The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by right-wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj, who was detained in connection with an assault case registered under the SC/ST Act. Bhardwaj allegedly severely injured a 38-year-old man during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest against NEET-UG irregularities at Jantar Mantar in June.
It also directed that similar FIRs pending in other states and Union territories be treated in the same manner. Lau argued that there was no question of illegal detention as Bhardwaj’s custody was pursuant to orders passed by the trial court. Bhardwaj was produced before duty magistrate Anjali Singh of the Patiala House Court through video conference by the Delhi police. The judge allowed the Delhi police’s plea seeking one-day custodial interrogation of the accused.
This was after Bhardwaj’s lawyer Umesh Sharma submitted that his arrest was illegal since he was arrested in connection with a first information report which was quashed by the Supreme Court on September 1. To be sure, the Supreme Court on September 1 quashed FIRs registered across the country in connection with the CJP-led protests in July, invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, even as the group withdrew its call for a September 5 march in Delhi following assurances from the Centre that it would honour its commitments to withdraw criminal cases and compensation to families of students who died by suicide. The top court 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, Delhi police counsel Sanjay Lau submitted that the FIR in connection with which Bhardwaj was detained had not been quashed by the Supreme Court on September 1. 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.
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. On Sunday, a Delhi court sent Bhardwaj to one-day judicial custody , in connection with the assault case.
