NEW DELHI: Swatantra Bhardwaj told a Delhi court on Monday that his arrest was politically motivated and claimed that it was the complainant who attacked him during the incident at Jantar Mantar in July, Bar and Bench reported.Bhardwaj’s counsel Umesh Sharma made the submission while seeking bail for Bhardwaj, who is accused of assaulting the father of a Dalit student-activist during the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) protests at Jantar Mantar.The court was hearing Bhardwaj’s bail application in-camera before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler.Sharma told the court that a video purportedly showed the complainant attacking Bhardwaj and claimed that the Delhi Police had taken no action against the complainant.“Police ko wo video nazar nahi aa raha… Is video m clearly dikhai de raha hai ki complainant is mujhpe attack kiya hai aur main gir gaya hu (The police are not able to see that video. It is clearly visible in this video that the complainant attacked me and I fell down),” Sharma told the court.Sharma also alleged that Bhardwaj was arrested under the SC/ST Act for political reasons. He said Bhardwaj had initially received a police notice to appear for questioning on June 27 and appeared on June 29, after which he was allowed to leave.“The police issued me a notice on June 27 to appear for questioning, and I appeared for questioning on June 29. After that, I was allowed to go. Then, after some political developments, I was arrested on September 4. After my arrest, a new FIR [under POCSO] was registered,” Sharma said.Advocate Swati Khanna, appearing for the complainant, opposed the bail plea and alleged that Bhardwaj had used casteist slurs against the complainant. She also claimed that Bhardwaj had admitted in a video that he was the one who attacked the complainant.Delhi Police told the court that the original complaint did not mention any casteist slur. However, a casteist slur was mentioned in a subsequent statement, following which provisions of the SC/ST Act were invoked.Khanna also informed the court that Bhardwaj had approached the Delhi High Court with a habeas corpus plea challenging his arrest, but the plea was rejected.After hearing the arguments from both sides, the court reserved its verdict on the bail application.Bhardwaj was arrested from Uttar Pradesh on September 5 in connection with the alleged assault on the father of a Dalit student-activist during the CJP protests at Jantar Mantar in July.
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He was initially booked under Sections 115(2) and 126(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to causing simple hurt and wrongful restraint. The case later invoked provisions of the SC/ST Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).Bhardwaj had subsequently claimed on social media that he had cracked the skull of the girl’s father and had been detained by police only for a few hours. He had also claimed proximity to NDA leaders Kapil Mishra and Chirag Paswan.Paswan denied the claim and filed a separate complaint against Bhardwaj for allegedly misusing his name.The charges against Bhardwaj were intensified after CJP leaders, along with the student and her father, protested at the Parliament Street police station.Bhardwaj is currently in judicial custody.