Delhi High Court to hear habeas corpus plea over Swatantra Bhardwaj’s arrest

The Delhi High Court is set to hear a habeas corpus petition concerning the arrest of right-wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj, who has been in custody since last week.

The matter came before a bench comprising Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia after Bhardwaj’s lawyer sought an urgent hearing. The lawyer said his client had been in custody for three days.

Police arrested Bhardwaj on Friday after detaining him in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr. A Delhi court sent him to one day of police custody on Saturday, and a court later ordered one day of judicial custody on Sunday. Police produced him by video conference before Duty Magistrate Anjali Singh of Patiala House Court.

The case followed public anger over a video podcast in which Bhardwaj allegedly said he had “cracked the skull” of the father of a minor activist during a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. He later said he had acted in self-defence. Delhi Police previously described the father’s injuries as “simple in nature.”

The case was registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act. On Saturday, several of Bhardwaj’s supporters gathered outside the Parliament Street police station, demanding that the case be withdrawn and that authorities conduct a fair investigation.

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cracked the skull