Delhi High Court Rejects Swatantra Bharadwaj’s Plea; Remanded to 14-Day Judicial Custody

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has dismissed the habeas corpus petition filed by Hindutva activist Swatantra Bhardwaj, who had assaulted and cracked the skull of the father of a student activist during the student protests at Jantar Mantar. A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja rejected the petition, which had sought to declare his arrest illegal and sought his release. The court found the arrest to be lawful, rejecting his primary argument that due procedure had not been followed.

Meanwhile, the Rouse Avenue Sessions Court has remanded Bhardwaj for 14 days. He was produced before the Sessions Court via video conferencing after a one-day magistrate court remand expired. Police had arrested him on the 4th in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, where he had fled.

Initially, police — operating under the shadow of the BJP and Delhi Police — had been unwilling to arrest him. It was only after Bhardwaj boasted on a podcast about cracking the skull of Sanjay, father of NEET protester Nishu Azad, that CJP leaders besieged the Parliament Street police station. Police then moved to arrest him and slapped him with serious charges.