His regular bail plea will be considered on Oct 6, with his conduct under review in the interim.
New Delhi: “Bail is an expression of the court’s trust and it’s not a trophy to be displayed,” a court observed while granting three-week interim relief to self-styled Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj in an alleged assault case involving the father of a teenage CJP activist during a Jantar Mantar protest in July.
Delhi Police caught Bhardwaj in Bulandshahr on Sept 5, days after he said on social media that he had “cracked the skull open” of the CJP activist’s father, following a protest at Parliament Street police station. Examining Bhardwaj’s conduct after the alleged assault, the court said podcasts and social media videos placed before it, subject to forensic verification, reflected “a tendency to boast about the incident rather than any remorse for it”.
The judge observed that “intimidation of a victim no longer requires physical proximity”. A public boast about an assault could reach the victim and witnesses “as surely as a threat delivered at their doorstep, and often with greater reach and permanence”. Referring to Section 15A of SC/ST Act, the court said its duty of protection “cannot be discharged merely by keeping the accused physically away from the victim” and extends to what is said publicly about the case. On Bhardwaj’s freedom of speech, Laler said it “doesn’t extend to using public platforms to overawe a victim or to try a pending case before the public”. The court also flagged non-disclosure of Bhardwaj’s past antecedents, as argued by the complainant’s counsel, Swati Khanna, noting previous FIRs “weren’t disclosed at all, although the applicant was plainly aware of it”.
The court also flagged “a significant ground uncovered” in the investigation, pointing to the disputed authenticity of the podcast and gaps, including lack of forensic examination, CCTV and police recordings, Bhardwaj’s call detail and location data, social media-provider information, witness statements and clarity on co-accused Suraj Kumar . Drawing a parallel with a Supreme Court case referred to in a TOI report, where the apex court required production of an accused seen celebrating after being admitted to bail, additional sessions judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler noted, “Public displays of that kind, whether on the street or on social media, do not augur well for society or for law and order, and they erode public’s confidence in the administration of justice. The investigating officer was directed to address these gaps and keep a check on Bhardwaj’s conduct, reporting any breach to the court.