HC rejects Swatantra Bhardwaj's plea against arrest over ‘assault’ at CJP protest

The court accepted police’s argument that the June assault FIR was separate from cases quashed by the Supreme Court on September 1.

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed the habeas corpus petition filed by right-wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj, who was detained last week in connection with alleged assault of a 38-year-old man during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar in June.

Swatantra Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr over an alleged assault during a CJP protest in Delhi. (Instagram/ bhardwaj_swatantra_official)

The case is registered under the SC/ST Act.

A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja dismissed the petition after Bhardwaj’s lawyer Umesh Sharma submitted that his arrest was illegal since the FIR was already quashed by the Supreme Court on September 1.

A habeas corpus petition — filed by a detainee or their relatives — requests the court to order authorities to bring the person before the court.

SC had quashed FIRs linked to July CJP protests

Notably, the apex court on September 1 had quashed FIRs registered across the country in connection with the CJP-led protests, under Article 142 of the Constitution. The court had ordered that all FIRs relating to the protests between July 20 and 25 in the states and Union territories, including those not formally brought before it, would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed for all purposes. However, this alleged assault incident took place in June.

However, Delhi Police counsel Sanjay Lau submitted that the FIR in connection with which Bhardwaj was detained, had not been quashed by the SC. He said Bhardwaj was remanded to one-day judicial custody on Sunday and was produced before the trial court through video conferencing again on Monday, following which he was sent to 14 days of judicial custody. Lau argued that there was no question of illegal detention as Bhardwaj’s custody was pursuant to orders passed by the trial court.

Bhardwaj detained after CJP demands arrest

The influencer was detained in Bulandshahr on Friday, hours after the CJP held a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault. He was produced before duty magistrate Anjali Singh of the Patiala House Court through video conference by the Delhi Police. The detention came amid 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.

Delhi Police on Friday added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Bhardwaj in connection with the alleged assault. A separate case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act has also been registered against him.