The Patiala House Court on Tuesday granted three weeks’ interim bail to Swatantra Bhardwaj, who is accused in connection with the alleged assault on Sanjay Azad, father of a student activist, during a protest at Jantar Mantar.
The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler of the Patiala House Courts. The court had on Monday reserved its order on Bhardwaj’s bail plea after hearing arguments from both sides.
Bhardwaj was arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch earlier this month in connection with the case and had been remanded to judicial custody. The prosecution case concerns an alleged assault during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar in June.
During the bail proceedings, Bhardwaj’s counsel argued that the arrest was politically motivated and claimed that it was actually the complainant who had initiated the violence. It also raised questions over the invocation of provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, pointing out that the initial police report allegedly did not contain any allegation of a caste-based slur.
The court had specifically questioned the Delhi Police about the alleged caste-based remark. The police stated that while the initial report did not mention such language, a subsequent statement contained the allegation, following which the SC/ST Act provisions were invoked.
The interim bail comes shortly after the Delhi High Court dismissed Bhardwaj’s habeas corpus petition challenging his arrest. A Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Ravinder Dudeja held that the grounds raised did not establish that his custody was illegal.