Swatantra Bhardwaj questioned by multiple teams during police remand
Self-proclaimed Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj, arrested in connection with the alleged assault on a student activist’s father during a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, was shown his viral videos and questioned by multiple police teams during his remand, officials said on Sunday. Bhardwaj (22) was asked more than 100 questions during his remand, a police source said, adding that while he answered some of those, he did not respond to several others.
According to sources, investigators showed Bhardwaj several of his viral videos as part of the questioning and confronted him with the statements and claims made by him in the videos. The sources said Bhardwaj showed no sign of remorse during his questioning.
Bhardwaj was arrested on Friday after being detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr and sent to a daylong police custody by a Delhi court on Saturday. He was produced before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler at his residence around 2 pm, while his legal-aid counsel appeared before the judge through video-conferencing.
The development came a day after the Delhi Police added sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the charge of criminal intimidation to the FIR registered over the alleged assault.
A fresh FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was also lodged on a complaint from the minor activist, who alleged that she was subjected to online threats and harassment after speaking out against the assault on her father.
The police action followed outrage over a video podcast, in which Bhardwaj allegedly claimed that he had “cracked the skull” of the minor activist’s father during the protest. He had subsequently claimed that he had acted in self-defence.
The Delhi Police had earlier said the injuries suffered by the student activist’s father were “simple in nature”.
Investigators are also going through Bhardwaj’s social-media posts, videos and other digital material as part of the probe, the officials said.
Several supporters of the self-proclaimed Hindutva influencer had gathered outside the Parliament Street police station on Saturday, demanding the withdrawal of the case against Bhardwaj and a fair investigation.
A Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) delegation, accompanied by Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad, met police officials on Friday and demanded action against Bhardwaj, including the addition of attempt-to-murder and criminal-intimidation charges and SC/ST Act provisions to the FIR.
In a separate development, Supreme Court lawyer Amita Sachdeva got a complaint lodged with the Delhi Police against the student activist, alleging that she insulted Hindu deities through objectionable social-media posts. No FIR has been registered in the matter yet, a senior police officer said.
