Late Sunday evening, April 26, Congress leader and party media chief Pawan Khera filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court of India, challenging the Gauhati High Court's April 24 order that rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
The SLP has been registered as Diary No. 25523/2026 and is currently listed as "pending." It was filed at 6:26 PM on Sunday. The case is titled: Pawan Khera v. State of Assam.
The Supreme Court will now decide whether to hear the matter and whether to grant any interim protection to Khera — who, as things stand, can be arrested by Assam Police at any time.
The Case: What It Is About
This entire legal battle traces back to allegations Pawan Khera made publicly against Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Khera alleged that Riniki Bhuyan Sarma — a prominent media professional — holds multiple foreign passports, owns undisclosed luxury properties abroad, and has links to shell companies. These were serious allegations, made in his capacity as a Congress spokesperson, clearly intended to target the Assam CM through his spouse.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) later weighed in, with sources telling media that the passports cited by Khera were "fake." Riniki Bhuyan Sarma subsequently filed a police complaint.
Based on that complaint, Assam Police registered an FIR at the Guwahati Crime Branch Police Station. The charges invoked in the FIR include sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) related to:
- Making false statements
- Cheating
- Forgery
- Criminal conspiracy
- Defamation
These are not light charges. "Defamation simpliciter" — as the Gauhati High Court specifically said — this is not.
The Legal Journey: How It Got Here
Understanding the current Supreme Court petition requires tracing what has been an unusually complicated bail journey.
Step 1 — Telangana High Court (April 10, 2026): Khera first approached the Telangana High Court, citing a residential address in Hyderabad. That court granted him one week's transit anticipatory bail, allowing him time to approach the appropriate court in Assam.
Step 2 — Assam Police Moves Supreme Court: The Assam Police did not accept this and challenged the Telangana HC order before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court stayed the transit anticipatory bail on April 15.
Step 3 — Supreme Court Refuses to Vacate Stay: On April 17, Khera asked the Supreme Court to vacate its own stay, at least temporarily so he could approach the Gauhati High Court. The court declined. It also refused to extend his transit bail till Tuesday so he could travel to Assam on Monday. However, the court clarified that its stay order, and observations made in earlier orders, should not prejudice the Gauhati High Court's independent consideration of Khera's bail application.
Step 4 — Gauhati High Court (April 24, 2026): A single-judge bench of Justice Parthivjyoti Saikia heard Khera's anticipatory bail application in Guwahati. After reserving the judgment, Justice Saikia rejected the plea. His observation was pointed: Khera "does not deserve to be given the privilege of anticipatory bail." The judgment noted the matter involves serious allegations related to forged documents, and the court explicitly refused to classify it as a simple defamation case.
The high court also observed, in language that drew widespread attention, that Khera had dragged "an innocent lady" into the controversy for "political mileage."
Step 5 — Supreme Court (April 26, 2026): Khera files the SLP we are discussing now. It is registered, it is pending, and the Supreme Court will call it for hearing in due course.
Pawan Khera and the Congress
The party has closed ranks firmly around Khera. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh issued a strong statement on X: "The entire Indian National Congress stands solidly in solidarity with Pawan Khera, the Chairman of its Media and Publicity Department. The verdict of the Guwahati High Court is in the process of being challenged in the Supreme Court. We are confident that justice will prevail over the politics of threat, intimidation, and harassment."
Khera himself has consistently framed the case as political vendetta, arguing that the FIR is not an act of law enforcement but of political pressure from a ruling party against an opposition critic.
Assam Police and State Government
The Assam government's position, as reflected through the police's aggressive legal pursuit — including challenging the Telangana HC order before the Supreme Court — is that the case is a legitimate criminal matter involving specific, verifiable allegations about forged documents. Earlier this month, Assam Police conducted searches at Khera's Delhi residence and visited Hyderabad in connection with the case.
The Courts So Far: Both the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court have, for now, declined to protect Khera from arrest. The Supreme Court's stay on transit bail, and the Gauhati HC's rejection of anticipatory bail, represent consecutive setbacks for his legal team.
The Political Dimension
It would be naive to ignore the political framing of this case. Pawan Khera is not a random Congress worker — he is the Chairman of the party's Media and Publicity Department. His allegations against Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife were made at a time when Sarma is one of the BJP's most visible state leaders and a key political strategist for the party.
This gives the case a texture that goes beyond individual criminal liability. Opposition leaders across parties have pointed to the pattern of FIRs being used against Congress spokespersons, politicians, and critics of the ruling establishment. The Congress's own legal team has argued that the charges — particularly the forgery and conspiracy angles — are a stretch based on what Khera actually said publicly.
At the same time, if the MEA is correct that the passports Khera cited were "fake," then the allegations he made were either recklessly sourced or deliberately false. That is not a trivial concern, and courts have so far not been persuaded that this deserves the standard pre-arrest protection granted in more routine cases.
What the Supreme Court Will Now Decide
When the SLP comes up for hearing, the bench will likely first consider whether to grant any interim protection to Khera while the petition is decided. If it does not, Assam Police can arrest him.
The core legal question before the court will be: does the Gauhati High Court's reasoning for rejecting anticipatory bail hold up? Does the nature of the allegations — involving alleged forgery and false statements about a public figure's credentials — justify the refusal of pre-arrest bail?
The Supreme Court's earlier observations in this case — asking Khera to approach the Gauhati HC — suggest it is not willing to shortcut the process. Whether that changes now that the Gauhati HC has clearly ruled against him is what will be decided in the coming days.
What Happens If There Is No Stay
If the Supreme Court does not grant interim protection quickly, Khera remains vulnerable to arrest. His legal team would likely argue that the mere filing of an SLP should trigger some breathing room — a position courts sometimes accept, sometimes do not.
The Congress has already signalled it will treat any arrest as a political act and mobilise accordingly. For the BJP and the Assam government, a clean legal victory in the Supreme Court would be the strongest answer to those accusations.