New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday, September 7, dismissed a plea by Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj against his arrest in connection with the alleged assault on the father of a student activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja said Bhardwaj was remanded to custody pursuant to the trial court’s judicial orders, and he can challenge his arrest before the court concerned.
The counsel for Bhardwaj contended that even a single day’s custody is illegal, saying the FIR does not exist in the eyes of the law.
He argued that this was one of the FIRs related to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest that were quashed by the Supreme Court.
However, the counsel for Delhi Police said Bhardwaj was produced through video conferencing before a sessions judge on Saturday and was sent to one-day police custody.
On Sunday, he was virtually produced before a duty magistrate and was remanded to one-day judicial custody. On Monday, he was again produced before a special judge virtually and has been sent to 14 days in judicial custody.
“He is in custody in pursuance of judicial orders, so where is the question of habeas corpus or illegal custody? Once there is a legal order, they can challenge it before the court concerned,” the police counsel contended.
What happened in court
On instructions from the SHO of the Parliament Street police station, the counsel said this FIR has not been quashed by the Supreme Court.
The counsel for the complaint apprised the court that provisions under the SC/ST Act have also been invoked against Bhardwaj in the FIR.
The court noted that while Bhardwaj’s counsel argued that the FIR has been quashed by the Supreme Court, this ground was not raised in the petition.
“You have not raised this ground in the petition. Even if we issue notice on the petition, what reply would the state have filed?” the bench said, adding that “we fail to understand how this prayer is sought in the habeas corpus petition.”
The plea filed on behalf of Bhardwaj’s father, Randhir Kumar Jha, was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia for an urgent hearing in the morning.
Bhardwaj was detained after uproar
Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on September 4, hours after the CJP staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station here demanding his arrest over the alleged assault.
The Delhi Police has added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Bhardwaj over the alleged assault on Sanjay Kumar, the father of a teenage student activist, during the CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar in June. A POCSO case has also been registered against him.
Following his arrest, he was produced at the residence of a sessions judge here on September 5, who allowed the Delhi Police’s plea seeking one-day custodial interrogation of the accused.
The police action follows 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.
“I cracked the skull… Do you know which section this crime attracts? Section 307. He needed 60 stitches,” Bhardwaj had said in the interview.
The student had earlier alleged that she received rape threats, verbal abuse and morphed images after speaking out against the alleged assault on her father and filing a police complaint.
