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A bail application has been filed on behalf of Swatantra Bhardwaj, seeking regular bail in a case of alleged assault on a person belonging to the SC-ST community.
The bail application is to be listed on September 14 for a hearing before a Special Judge at Patiala House Court Swatantra Bhardwaj is in judicial custody till September 21 after his arrest by the Delhi police in an alleged case of assault on protester Nishu Azad's father, Sanjay Azad. On September 6, Patiala House Court's Duty Judicial Magistrate First Class (Duty JMFC) Anjali Singh had remanded Swatantra Bhardwaj to one-day judicial custody after conducting the hearing. He was produced before the duty magistrate through video conferencing after one day of police custody. Patiala House Court on September 7 extended Swatantra Bhardwaj's judicial custody till September 21. The Delhi Police had moved an application seeking an extension of judicial custody for 14 days. Bhardwaj was detained from Bulandshahr on September 4 by the Delhi Police Crime Branch. Thereafter, he was brought to Delhi. He was arrested in the FIR lodged in connection with the attempt to murder of Sanjay Azad, who was allegedly attacked by Swatantra Bhardwaj and another person, Suraj. Earlier on Saturday, the Special Judge (SC-ST Act) of Patiala House Court remanded Swatantra Bhardwaj to one day of police custody. He was produced at the residence of the concerned judge at the Karkardooma Court complex in view of safety and security concerns of the accused. Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel (Chief LADC) Piyush Sachdeva had appeared for Swatantra Bhardwaj through video conferencing. As per the grounds of arrest, this matter came to light after a podcast interview during which Bhardwaj allegedly admitted to hitting Sanjay Azad on his head with a Kada he was wearing. This incident took place during the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) Protest at Jantar Mantar on June 23. Advocate Rishav Ranjan, the counsel for the complainant, said on Friday that they had a meeting with a senior officer of Delhi Police who assured them to add appropriate sections of the SC-ST Act and arrest Bhardwaj within 72 Hours. MP Chandrasekhar Azad, Sanjay Azad, and other lawyers were also present during the meeting held at Parliament Street Police Station. The bail application of Swatantra Bhardwaj is based on the subsequent action by the police. It is stated by Advocate Umesh Chandra Sharma that all the FIRs have already been quashed by the Supreme Court, and this FIR was registered on June 23. It is further stated that subsequently, when politicians visited the police station at Parliament Street on September 3, the police came out with the idea of implicating Swatantra Bhardwaj and took the supplementary statement of the complainant, Sanjay Kumar, and arrested Swatantra Bhardwaj on the ground that offences under the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act were being charged against him. He has been in custody since September 3. (ANI)
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