Jantar Mantar case: Bhardwaj remanded to police custody

A Patiala House Court on Saturday remanded self-styled influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj to one-day police custody in connection with the alleged assault on Sanjay, the father of a teenage Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist, during a protest at Jantar Mantar in July.

Bhardwaj was produced at the residence of Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler at around 2 pm. His legal aid counsel appeared before the judge through video-conferencing. Bhardwaj was originally expected to be produced physically in the Patiala House courts.

The development came as security was tightened outside the Parliament Street police station after supporters of Bhardwaj gathered there to stage a protest. Barricades were put up at strategic points around the police station and paramilitary personnel were deployed as a precautionary measure, a police officer said.

Advocate Rishav Ranjan, the counsel representing Nishu Azad (victim’s daughter), termed the development “strange”, as he questioned the manner in which Bhardwaj was produced before the Court.

Ranjan also questioned why police sought only one day’s custody in what he described as a serious offence and said the legal team had not been given details of the provisions added to the FIR.

“Today at Patiala House Court around 1:45, he was presented before the Judge at his residence, and a special VC arrangement was done for him. The judge was not sitting in Court. No idea about which charges are being freshly pressed. No Idea about how many days of remand were asked by the Police,” he tweeted.

On the other hand, Advocate Umesh Sharma for Bhardwaj said that initially, the regular area magistrate, whose court normally handles the matter, was on leave and thus, they were informed that the accused would be produced before the Link Magistrate.

“However, since sections of the SC/ST Act and POCSO Act were also added, the investigating officer produced him before another judge, either virtually or otherwise. We were informed by the court that he had been remanded to one day of police custody,” he said.

On Friday, Delhi Police added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Bhardwaj for allegedly assaulting the father of a teenage activist during a CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar in June. He has also been booked in a POCSO case. A Delhi court on Saturday remanded Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj to one-day police custody in connection with the alleged assault on Sanjay, the father of a teenage CJP activist, during a protest at Jantar Mantar in July.

Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on Friday, hours after the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street Police Station for his arrest.

The action followed outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed him “cracked the skull” of the minor activist’s father, Sanjay, on June 23 during the CJP protest and escaped arrest because of his political connections. “I cracked the skull... Do you know which section this crime attracts? Section 307. He needed 60 stitches,” he said on a video podcast.

Delhi Police earlier said Sanjay’s injuries were simple in nature and were caused by a steel bracelet. Facing backlash, Bhardwaj later claimed in a podcast that he acted in self-defence.

The minor, who describes herself as an atheist and a humanitarian, alleged that she was threatened with rape, subjected to verbal abuse and morphed images after speaking out against the assault on her father and filing a police complaint.