The remand of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj to one-day police custody on Saturday over the alleged attack on Sanjay Azad, the father of a CJP protester, has now drawn questions from her counsel.
According to Rishav Ranjan, the counsel for the minor CJP protester, the manner in which the Delhi's court judge's ruling was made in Bhardwaj's case was "very strange".
"We were all present in the Court and waiting for the hearing to begin. Later, we came to know that legal aid counsel joined through video conferencing and accused was presented before the judge at his residence," Ranjan told ANI.
Indeed, reports suggest that Bhardwaj was supposed to be presented physically at the Patiala House courts, but was instead produced at the residence of Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler at about 2 PM on Saturday.
Ranjan also questioned how the self-styled Hindutva influencer could be remanded to just one day of custody for such a serious offence.
"We did not receive any details as to what charges were added and what additions were made to the FIR ... Delhi Police have not made any official statement regarding the sections, so far," he added.
Advocate Umesh Sharma, the counsel for Bhardwaj, also noted that there was "a lot of confusion" around the accused's case.
"They picked him up at night and took him away, so we are looking into all these things. We have not spoken to him yet ... He has been given one day’s remand and has to be produced tomorrow. It is possible that he may be produced at the same place or somewhere else," he explained.
This comes after the Delhi Police on Friday added provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and criminal intimidation to the FIR against Bhardwaj for allegedly "cracking the skull" of Sanjay Azad during the CJP-led Parliament march protest at Jantar Mantar on July 20. He has also been booked in a POCSO case.
However, he later claimed that he had not attacked Sanjay, but had defended himself from a mob attack.
"I was gheroed by 10-15 people. When I acted in self-defence, he was hit on the head. As per his medical report from Delhi Police, he did not suffer major injuries. I am cooperating with the ongoing investigation. The podcast clip that is being shared on social media by Rahul Gandhi and others is fake," he told ANI.
Still, Bhardwaj had earlier tried to give the Bulandshahr police the slip when they tried to arrest him just hours after the 72-hour-arrest promise made to the CJP, but was later caught.
