Delhi court reserves order on bail plea of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj

A Delhi court on Monday reserved for September 15 its order on the bail plea of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj in connection with the alleged assault on the father of a student activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar, among other charges.

During the proceedings, Bhardwaj’s advocate claimed that his client had been arrested after “some political developments” and that the complainant in the present case had in fact attacked Bhardwaj during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in June.

Bhardwaj had been remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody on September 7.

On Monday, Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler asked the Delhi Police whether Bhardwaj had used a casteist slur at the time of the incident. The city police said that when the complaint was initially registered, no mention was made of a casteist slur; later, when the statement was recorded again, a casteist slur was mentioned, and therefore the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was invoked.

Counsel for Bhardwaj said an FIR was registered against his client on June 23, following which a notice was issued on June 27 seeking Bhardwaj’s appearance for questioning.

“I appeared for questioning on June 29. After that, I was allowed to go. Then, after some political developments, I was arrested on September 4. After my arrest, a new FIR (under POCSO Act) was registered. 

“The most surprising thing is that during the (CJP) protest, the complainant himself attacked me. That video is available on social media. In the video, it is clear that I had fallen, and the police rescued me,” Bhardwaj’s advocate said.

“Police ko wo video nazar nahi aa raha jis me clearly dikhai de raha hai ki complainant ne mujh pe attack kiya hai aur main gir gaya hu (The police are unable to find the video where it is clearly visible that the complainant attacked me and I fell),” he added.

The court then played the video clip.

The complainant’s advocate then said that there was no illegality in the accused’s arrest and that FIRs, including under the SC/ST Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, had been registered against the accused.

Following this, Judge Laler said that the proceedings would be held in-camera. His court staff then asked media personnel to step outside the court.

Later, the court staff said that the order had been reserved and that it would be passed on Tuesday.

Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on September 4, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault.

The action followed outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed he had “cracked the skull” of the student activist’s father during the June 23 protest and escaped arrest because of his political connections. 

Bhardwaj was produced at the residence of Judge Laler the next day, who allowed the Delhi Police’s plea seeking one-day custodial interrogation of the accused.

The next day, a magisterial court sent Bhardwaj to one-day judicial custody.

Judge Laler last week extended Bhardwaj’s judicial custody till September 21.