Congress leader Pawan Khera moves SC against deplaning, arrest at Delhi

 

Congress leader Pawan Khera, who was forced to deboard from a plane and was arrested by the Delhi police on Thursday morning, moved the Supreme Court for relief in multiple FIRs lodged against him for alleged remarks against PM Modi. Khera told the apex court that multiple FIRs have been lodged against him in Varanasi, Lucknow and Assam.

SC agreed to hear his plea after concluding Constitution bench’s hearing for the day. Earlier, Delhi Police said that the action against Khera was at the instance of Assam police. Recently, Khera had referred to PM Narendra Modi, whose middlename is Damodardas, as ‘Narendra Gautamdas Modi,’ while criticising him about his connection with Gautam Adani. Various BJP leaders spoke against this, saying that Khare insulted the PM’s father, and police cases followed.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala accompanied Khera to a police station at the airport where there was a huge deployment of CISF. One of the cases was registered at Haflong police station in Assam against Khera under various sections of the IPC for his alleged remarks against the prime minister. Earlier several party leaders got off the plane after Khera was deboarded and staged a dharna on the tarmac. Khera was on his way to Raipur for the Congress plenary.

Initially, Congress leaders were told that they were being deplaned as there were some issues with Khare’s luggage. They said police was on their way and would explain the reason to him. ‘We are all on the @IndiGo6E flight 6E 204 to Raipur and all of a sudden my colleague @Pawankhera has been asked to deplane’, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate, who was also on the flight, said on Twitter. ‘What sort of high handedness is this? Is there any rule of law? On what grounds is this being done and under whose order?’ she said.

Meanwhile, Indigo issued a statement regarding the incident, saying, ‘A passenger was deplaned by the police at the Delhi airport from Raipur-bound flight 6E 204. Some other passengers have also decided to deboard on their own accord. We are following the advice of the concerned authorities. The flight is delayed as of now and we regret the inconvenience caused to other passengers’.