Delhi High Court rejects Swatantra Bhardwaj’s habeas corpus plea in protest assault case

The Delhi High Court has rejected right-wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj’s habeas corpus petition, leaving him in custody in a case arising from an alleged assault at a protest against NEET-UG irregularities.

A bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja dismissed the petition. Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Umesh Sharma, argued that the arrest was illegal because it followed an FIR that the Supreme Court quashed on Sept. 1.

That Supreme Court order covered FIRs registered across India in connection with CJP-led protests held from July 20 to 25. The court said those cases would not be pursued or investigated and would be treated as closed. The group later withdrew a planned Sept. 5 march in Delhi after receiving assurances from the central government about withdrawing criminal cases and providing compensation to families of students who died by suicide.

“

The petition is dismissed.

Delhi police counsel Sanjay Lau disputed the defence argument. He said the FIR connected to Bhardwaj’s detention had not been quashed by the Supreme Court and that his custody followed orders from the trial court. Bhardwaj was remanded to one day of judicial custody on Sunday and sent to 14 days of judicial custody after appearing by video conference on Monday.

Police detained Bhardwaj in Bulandshahr on Friday, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party protested outside the Parliament Street police station and demanded his arrest. The case concerns the alleged assault of Sanjay Kumar, the father of a teenage student activist, during a June 23 protest. Police later added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR. The detention followed outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed he had “cracked the skull” of Kumar and escaped arrest because of political connections.

“

cracked the skull