New Delhi: A Delhi court Monday remanded self-styled Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj to 14 days in judicial custody in connection with the alleged attack on a man during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in June.Bhardwaj was produced through video conference, owing to security concerns, in Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler’s after his one-day police custody ended.Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr Friday, hours after the CJP staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault. Thereafter he was remanded to one day police custody.The action followed outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed he had “cracked the skull” of a minor girl’s father near the Jantar Mantar protest site. He had also claimed that he was dealt with lightly because of his “political connections”.A fresh FIR under the POCSO Act, and other sections including stalking, on a complaint by the minor, alleging online threats and harassment, was filed. Provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation were added to the existing FIR against Bhardwaj.Delhi High Court, meanwhile, dismissed Bhardwaj’s plea challenging his arrest. A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja noted that Bhardwaj was remanded to custody on a valid trial court order and is free to challenge his arrest before the court concerned.The counsel for Bhardwaj contended that even a single day’s custody is illegal, arguing that the FIR related to the CJP protest was quashed by the Supreme Court. HC, however, this ground was not raised in the petition. Police maintained the FIR against Bhardwaj had not been quashed.
