Delhi Court Fast-Tracks Plea Over Bhardwaj's Custody

The Delhi High Court has taken an outright stance on the Sanjay Kumar assault case, where the High Court agreed to entertain a habeas corpus plea on certain grounds. The plea seeks to produce the accused Swatantra Bhardwaj, who has been in custody for the last three days. It is on record that this matter was presented to a Division Bench presided over by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay on Monday. According to Advocate Umesh Chandra Sharma, Bhardwaj has been in custody for three days.

Habeas Corpus Plea and the Custody Timeline

Bhardwaj was arrested from Bulandshahr on August 4 by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in an attempt to murder case. He, along with another person named Suraj, is accused of assaulting Sanjay Kumar. On Saturday, a Special Judge under the SC-ST Act at Patiala House Court remanded him to one day of police custody, with the hearing conducted at the judge's residence due to security reasons. His legal representation was done via video conference through Chief Legal Aid Defence Counsel Piyush Sachdeva.

What Led to the Arrest?

Based on the grounds of the arrest, the case became known as Bhardwaj made comments in an interview in a podcast where he admitted hitting Kumar on his head using a Kada he was wearing at the time of the CJP protest, which occurred on June 23 at Jantar Mantar. On Sunday, a duty magistrate ordered that Bhardwaj be taken into custody for another day. The Delhi Police had sought fourteen days. Advocate Rishav Ranjan, who is representing the complainant, said that the police had agreed to include sections from the SC-ST Act and ensure an immediate arrest.

-Ishita Ranjan