Congress' Pawan Khera released on interim bail after SC orders

Congress Pawan Khera was released on interim bail on Thursday evening after being arrested earlier in the day from Delhi airport for allegedly insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He was granted interim bail by Delhi's Metropolitan Magistrate Archana Beniwal on a bail bond of Rs 30,000 after an order by the Supreme Court.

The magistrate passed the order around 6.10 pm after receiving a copy of the apex court's order for Khera's release.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had earlier in the day ordered grant of interim bail to Khera till February 28 in the case lodged in Assam.

The apex court had said Khera will be produced before the competent magistrate in Delhi and released on interim bail.

Khera was produced in a jam-packed courtroom at around 4 pm.

A large team of police personnel escorted Khera inside the court, while another police contingent cordoned off the courtroom outside which several Congress supporters had gathered.

During the proceedings, Randeep Surjewala, the counsel for Khera, informed the magistrate that the apex court has passed an order granting Khera an interim bail.

He told the court that copies of the FIR and arrest memo were not provided to Khera and the Arnesh Kumar guidelines of the Supreme Court were not followed.

Arnesh Kumar guidelines were part of the Supreme Court judgement which said arrests must be an exception and police must first decide if an arrest was necessary under Section 41 of the CrPC.

Surjewala said all offences alleged against the Congress leader carried punishment of less than seven years.

He said Khera was not informed about the reason for his arrest at the time of being deplaned at around 1.10 pm.

The copy of FIR was provided by the investigating officer (IO) to the court only around 4.10 pm, he said.

A case against was registered against Khera at Haflong police station in Assam under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153 B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national interest), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) for his alleged remarks against the prime minister.

(with inputs from PTI)