No relief for influencer Swantantra Bhardwaj as court rejects plea against arrest

The Delhi High Court refused to entertain a plea against Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bharadwaj's arrest in the CJP assault case. The bench said he is in judicial custody under court orders and can move a trial court.

In Short

• Delhi High Court rejects plea against Swatantra Bharadwaj's arrest
• Bharadwaj accused of assaulting student activist's father at CJP protest
• Court says arrest can be challenged in trial court

The Delhi High Court has rejected a plea challenging the arrest of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bharadwaj, who is accused of assaulting the father of a student activist during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja held that Bharadwaj was currently in custody pursuant to judicial orders and said he could challenge his arrest before the appropriate trial court.

Bharadwaj's counsel argued that his arrest was illegal, contending that the FIR under which he was arrested had been dismissed by the Supreme Court in its recent order concerning cases linked to the CJP protests.

The Delhi Police, however, disputed the claim and told the High Court that the FIR in the present case had not been dismissed.

Bharadwaj was arrested in Bulandshahr on September 4, hours after the CJP staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding action against him over the assault.

He was subsequently produced before a sessions judge the next day, who allowed Delhi Police one day of custodial interrogation.

He was then produced virtually before a duty magistrate and sent to judicial custody. On Monday, the Patiala House Court remanded him to 14 days in Tihar Jail, till September 21.

His father, Randhir Kumar Jha, subsequently approached the Delhi High Court challenging the arrest, with the plea being urgently mentioned.

The case stems from assaulting Sanjay Kumar, the father of a teenage student activist, during a CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar on June 23.

The police action followed outrage over an interview in which Bharadwaj claimed that he had "cracked the skull" of the student's father during the protest and escaped arrest because of his political connections.

The student had subsequently alleged that she faced rape threats, verbal abuse and circulation of morphed images after speaking out about the alleged assault on her father and filing a police complaint.

- Ends
(With PTI inputs)