NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday sought an Action Taken Report (ATR) from the city police on a plea seeking registration of an FIR against student-activist Nishu Azad and her father Sanjay Azad for posting "derogatory” posts and videos on social media platform X containing objectionable references to Hindu deities.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta has asked the police to file the report, and posted the matter for further hearing in January 2027.
The Court passed the order on a plea filed by advocate Amita Sachdeva, who claimed that she had earlier approached the Delhi Police with her complaint, however, no action was taken.
The plea referred to four posts allegedly uploaded between September 2023 and August 2026, concerning gods Shiva, Krishna and goddesses Saraswati and Durga.
It alleged that the posts were “deliberately published and continued to remain accessible despite her request for their removal.”
Sachdeva had sought registration of an FIR under Sections 299 (outrating religious feeling) and 196 (promoting enmity, hatred) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) as well as provisions of the Information Technology Act.
Nishu Azad and Sanjay Azad were in news recently after a right wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj claimed on video that he had beaten up Sanjay Azad during the CJP protests at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
A Delhi court on September 15 granted three weeks' interim bail to Bhardwaj in the case, saying it wanted to observe his conduct before considering his plea for regular bail.
The judge also barred him from posting anything on social media about the case.
While granting the relief, the judge noted that the Delhi Police probe in the case had many deficiencies.
The judge added that Bhardwaj had been in jail for over 10 days, “a period that should have afforded him time for reflection”.
“His custodial interrogation is complete, and the offences carry a maximum sentence of seven years. The principal concern is the safety of the complainant and his minor daughter, which can be secured by appropriate conditions," the judge said.
