Congress leader and AICC Media Department chief Pawan Khera moved the Gauhati High Court on Monday seeking anticipatory bail in connection with an FIR registered against him in Assam over alleged defamatory remarks targeting Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, the wife of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The petition was filed on April 20 and was listed before an appropriate bench by the registry earlier in the day, according to the High Court's website.
The Gauhati HC filing comes just days after the Supreme Court refused to extend Khera's transit anticipatory bail — effectively directing him to seek relief from the courts in Assam.
A bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Atul S Chandurkar, in its April 17 order, reiterated that Khera was "at liberty to apply immediately before the Court concerned" in Assam. The bench clarified that any such application "shall not be adversely influenced" by its earlier order staying the transit bail granted by the Telangana High Court, and directed that the competent court "shall decide the anticipatory bail application… on its own merits and on the basis of the material placed before it."
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The case stems from an FIR registered by Assam Police under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including charges of defamation, forgery, and criminal conspiracy.
The FIR was filed in connection with allegations made by Khera against Riniki Bhuyan Sharma — specifically that she possessed multiple foreign passports, undeclared luxury properties in Dubai, and shell companies in the United States. Sharma and her supporters have denied the allegations.
Earlier, the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kamrup Metro, had refused to grant a non-bailable warrant against Khera after the Crime Branch of Guwahati Police sought one.
The CJM found that the grounds put forward by the investigating officer were "entirely based on presumptions and conjectures" with no supporting material on record. The court also noted that since the offence is cognizable and non-bailable, the investigating officer already holds the authority under Section 35 of the BNSS to arrest Khera without a warrant if the investigation requires it.
With the anticipatory bail petition now filed before the Gauhati High Court, the next significant development in the case will depend on when the bench takes it up for hearing.