Delhi Court Grants 3-Week Interim Bail to Swatantra Bhardwaj in Dalit Activist Assault Case
Swatantra Bhardwaj, arrested for assaulting a teen Dalit activist's father at a June protest, has been granted three-week interim bail by a Delhi court.
A Delhi court on Tuesday granted three weeks of interim bail to right-wing vigilante Swatantra Bhardwaj, who was arrested earlier this month in connection with the assault on the father of a teenage Dalit activist during a June protest at Jantar Mantar.
The relief was granted by the Patiala House Court. During a hearing before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler on Monday, Bhardwaj's counsel contended that the arrest was politically motivated and played video footage claiming that the complainant had initiated the physical altercation.
Bhardwaj was taken into custody by Delhi Police in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, on September 5. His arrest followed a social media post in which he had boasted of having "cracked his skull open", as well as a protest outside the Parliament Street police station led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Aazad Samaj Party MP Chandrashekhar Azad and a team from the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) led by Ashotosh Ranka had also pressed for his arrest.
He was initially booked under sections 115(2) (causing hurt) and 126(2) (wrongful restraint) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. After supplementary statements alleged the use of casteist slurs and online threats against the minor activist, police added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and registered a separate FIR under the POCSO Act.
The assault took place on June 23 during youth-led demonstrations organised by the CJP, a satirically named movement protesting examination irregularities including the NEET paper leak.
The case also reached the Supreme Court, where Bhardwaj had filed a plea last Thursday. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant observed that no one could be permitted to browbeat a victim or her family for pursuing criminal proceedings. The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, remarked that such matters cannot be taken lightly and that nobody should be protected when violence against a child is involved and those accused are free and attempting to intimidate the child or family.
Counsel for the 14-year-old girl told the court that she had been harassed and that her house was vandalised after she filed the FIR against Bhardwaj. The Supreme Court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure action on the girl's FIR regarding the later attack on her house, and sought reports from the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments on the issue.