Recently, a Lucknow Court denied Congress leader Pawan Khera's discharge application in a criminal case concerning his alleged defamatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a press conference.

A day following the Supreme Court's dismissal of the Congress leader's plea to nullify FIRs filed against him, the local court issued its order in the matter.

In the order issued on January 5, Chief Judicial Magistrate Hrishikesh Pandey highlighted that there were substantial grounds to commence Khera's trial for the alleged offenses leveled against him.

Consequently, the court scheduled the proceedings for January 16, 2024, specifically for the formulation of charges against the Congress leader in question.

In a press conference held in Mumbai last February, the Congress leader called for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate the Adani "stock manipulation" matter. During this event, it was reported that the leader referred to Prime Minister Modi using the name 'Gautam Das' instead of 'Damodar Das'. As a consequence of this remark, several FIRs were filed against Khera in Assam, Lucknow, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that his intentional use of a different name was a form of deliberate mockery directed at the late father of the Prime Minister of India.

Following his arrest by the Assam Police at Delhi airport on February 23, 2023, Khera promptly approached the Supreme Court on the same day. The Top Court subsequently instructed the Delhi Court to provide interim bail to the Congress leader.

Later on February 27, 2023, the Supreme Court further extended the interim protection granted to Khera, which was subsequently prolonged in the following hearings.

On March 20, 2023, the Supreme Court consolidated all the FIRs lodged against Khera, merging them under the jurisdiction of the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The Court specifically instructed that the Lucknow FIR should be considered the primary case among them.

Following this development, Khera submitted a plea before the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, seeking to nullify and halt the legal proceedings pertaining to the three FIRs lodged in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Dima Hasao (Assam).