New Delhi: “There was not even a whisper of a casteist remark,” self-styled Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj claimed before a court Monday, alleging his arrest under SC/ST Act was politically motivated and the complainant had attacked him during the July Jantar Mantar incident.Appearing before additional sessions judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler for bail, Bhardwaj’s counsel, Umesh Chandra Sharma, argued that Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was absent from the June 23 FIR and was invoked later. “Police issued me a notice on June 27 to appear for questioning, and I appeared on June 29. After that, I was allowed to go. Then, after some political developments, I was arrested on Sept 4. After my arrest, a new FIR (under Pocso Act) was registered,” Sharma claimed.When the judge asked whether the provisions against Bhardwaj were added later, police said the initial complaint had no mention of a casteist slur and it was added when the complainant’s statement was recorded again. Sharma also alleged police were ignoring a video purportedly showing the complainant attacking Bhardwaj.The complainant’s counsel, Swati Khanna, opposed bail, saying Bhardwaj had admitted injuring the girl’s father and threatened her several times. “He has also failed to fully disclose his criminal antecedents and can influence the investigation by tampering with the evidence,” she said, adding that an FIR “isn’t an encyclopaedia” and SC/ST Act could be invoked later.The FIR was initially registered in relation to allegations of hurt and was subsequently expanded to include provisions of SC/ST Act on the basis of a supplementary statement recorded during the investigation. The case had attracted attention after a video surfaced in which Bhardwaj was alleged to have spoken about the Jantar Mantar incident, allegedly claiming to have injured the complainant’s father. The FIR, numbered 0062/2026, now alleges simple hurt and casteist slurs.The court reserved its order for Tuesday. Bhardwaj, arrested by the crime branch on Sept 4 after being detained in Bulandshahr, is in judicial custody.
