Delhi court extends judicial custody of Swatantra Bharadwaj

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday extended the judicial custody of Swatantra Bharadwaj till September 21 in connection with the alleged assault of the father of a minor student activist during a NEET protest at Jantar Mantar. Bharadwaj was produced before the court through video conferencing from Tihar Jail. He was detained in Bulandshahr on Friday, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station, demanding his arrest over the alleged assault.

Delhi Police on Friday added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR concerning the alleged assault on the father of the teenage student activist during the CJP-led protest at Jantar Mantar in June. A POCSO case has also been registered against Bharadwaj. The police action followed outrage over an interview in which Bharadwaj allegedly claimed that he had “cracked the skull” of the student's father during the June 23 protest and escaped arrest because of his political connections. “I cracked the skull... Do you know which section this crime attracts? Section 307. He needed 60 stitches,” Bharadwaj had said in the interview.