Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 5: Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj was on Saturday remanded to one day in police custody by a Delhi court in connection with an alleged assault on the father of a minor activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar in July.
Bhardwaj 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.
Delhi Police has added provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Bhardwaj. A separate case has also been registered against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The action followed an interview that went viral in which Bhardwaj allegedly claimed that he had “cracked the skull” of the activist’s father during the July 20 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,” Bhardwaj said in the interview.
Delhi Police had earlier said that the man’s injuries were “simple” in nature and were caused by a steel bracelet. Bhardwaj later claimed that he had acted in self-defence.
In a separate development on Friday, police registered a fresh FIR under the POCSO Act based on the minor activist’s complaint alleging online threats and harassment.
Police also reportedly invoked Sections 351(3), 78 and 79 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
The minor had earlier alleged that she received rape threats, verbal abuse and morphed images after speaking out against the alleged assault on her father and filing a police complaint.
The developments followed a meeting between CJP representatives and police officials at the Parliament Street police station. The delegation was accompanied by Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad.
The delegation sought the addition of attempt-to-murder, criminal intimidation and SC/ST Act provisions to the assault case and demanded a separate FIR over the alleged rape threats and online abuse targeting the minor activist.