The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a habeas corpus petition challenging the arrest of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj in connection with the alleged assault of the father of a teenage student activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar in June.
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja said Bhardwaj was in custody pursuant to judicial orders and could challenge his arrest before the appropriate trial court.
Bhardwaj’s counsel argued that even a day’s custody was illegal, claiming that the FIR against him had been quashed by the Supreme Court along with other cases linked to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest.
The Delhi Police, however, told the court that the FIR in question had not been quashed by the Supreme Court. The police said Bhardwaj was produced virtually before a sessions judge on September 5 and sent to one-day police custody. He was subsequently remanded to judicial custody and, on Monday, was sent to 14 days in judicial custody by a special judge.
“He is in custody in pursuance to judicial orders, so where is the question of habeas corpus or illegal custody,” the police counsel submitted, adding that any challenge to the arrest could be made before the court concerned.
The bench also noted that Bhardwaj’s plea did not raise the ground that the FIR had been quashed by the Supreme Court.
“You have not raised this ground in the petition. Even if we issue notice on the petition, what reply the State would have filed,” the court observed, questioning how such a prayer could be entertained in a habeas corpus petition.
The court was hearing a plea filed on behalf of Bhardwaj’s father, Randhir Kumar Jha. The matter was mentioned before the Chief Justice’s bench earlier in the day for urgent hearing.
Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on September 4, hours after the CJP held a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault.
Delhi Police has invoked provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation in the FIR relating to the alleged assault on Sanjay Kumar, father of the student activist, during the CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar on June 23. A separate POCSO case has also been registered against Bhardwaj.
His arrest came after an interview in which he allegedly claimed to have “cracked the skull” of the student activist’s father and escaped arrest because of his political connections.
“I cracked the skull... Do you know which section this crime attracts? Section 307. He needed 60 stitches,” Bhardwaj had said in the interview.
The student had earlier alleged that she received rape threats, verbal abuse and morphed images after speaking out against the alleged assault on her father and filing a police complaint.
(With inputs from PTI)
