Delhi Police Tighten Jantar Mantar Assault FIR, Add Attempt-to-Murder and SC/ST Charges

The Delhi Police have amended the First Information Report (FIR) registered in connection with the alleged assault on Sanjay Kumar, father of student activist Nishu Aazad, during a protest at Jantar Mantar. The updated FIR now includes charges of attempt to murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The revision came after hours of negotiations between representatives of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), including spokesperson Saurav Das and co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka, and senior police officers at the Parliament Street police station. Supporters of the party staged a sit-in outside the station during the discussions.

The CJP had demanded stronger legal provisions against the accused, Swatantra Bhardwaj, after a video surfaced online in which he purportedly claimed he had avoided arrest due to his "political connections." Following the talks, CJP representatives stated that the police had assured them of arresting the accused within 72 hours.

Mr. Das alleged that the police had initially been reluctant to add the more serious charges despite the severity of the injury. He described the wound, stating that Mr. Kumar's skull had been cracked open, which he argued clearly warranted an attempt-to-murder charge. He also claimed that other individuals accompanying Mr. Bhardwaj had not been identified and that some had posted threatening videos against Ms. Aazad.

Ms. Aazad stated that the incident and subsequent online abuse had taken a heavy toll on her. She reported receiving rape threats and being targeted with abusive and derogatory content. She mentioned that she had filed a complaint against those individuals and that an FIR had been registered. She added that the ordeal had made her hesitant to leave her home and had kept her from attending school for several weeks.

Police officials, however, disputed the CJP's account of the injury. New Delhi DCP Sachin Sharma had earlier stated that Mr. Kumar sustained a head injury from a kada (metal bracelet) worn by the accused during a scuffle. According to police, the medical examination at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital opined the injuries to be simple in nature, and the claim of a skull fracture was not supported by the medical report.

The protest on Friday occurred under heavy police deployment. Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad and Purnia MP Pappu Yadav also joined the CJP representatives during the talks. The dispute originates from the CJP's prolonged protest at Jantar Mantar over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations and its march towards Parliament on July 20.