A Delhi court on Monday remanded right-wing influencer and commentator Swatantra Bhardwaj to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with the alleged assault of the father of a teenage Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar in July.
Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler of the Patiala House Courts passed the order after Bhardwaj was produced before the court following the expiry of his one-day police custody. He had been remanded to police custody on Saturday.
Bhardwaj will now be produced before the court on September 21.
Bhardwaj was detained in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr on Friday, shortly after members of the CJP staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest in connection with the alleged assault.
Following the protest and subsequent developments, the Delhi Police added provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the case against Bhardwaj. A separate case has also been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The allegations against Bhardwaj came to wider attention after a video podcast in which he allegedly claimed to have assaulted the father of the teenage protester went viral. During the podcast, he also allegedly claimed to have political connections.
The case relates to the alleged assault of the minor activist’s father during the CJP’s protest at Jantar Mantar in July. The protest had subsequently led to demands for action against Bhardwaj.
Bhardwaj was taken into custody from Bulandshahr on Friday and was subsequently produced before the Delhi court. The court had initially granted the police one day of custody to question him in connection with the allegations.
With the expiry of the police remand, the prosecution sought his further custody, following which the court sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.
Bhardwaj will remain in judicial custody until the next scheduled production before the court on September 21, unless the court passes any further order in the meantime.
The allegations against him are yet to be adjudicated and the registration of the cases does not, by itself, establish his guilt.
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