Right-wing content creator Swatantra Bhardwaj remanded to police custody

Delhi Police have arrested 21-year-old right-wing content creator Swatantra Bhardwaj in connection with an alleged assault that left 38-year-old Sanjay Azad with serious head injuries during a protest at Jantar Mantar in June. A Patiala House court on Saturday remanded him to one day’s police custody, The Hindu and Hindustan Times separately reported.

The incident occurred on 23 June during a demonstration organised by the Cockroach Janta Party over alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test. Bhardwaj was initially booked for voluntarily causing hurt and wrongful restraint.

According to the first information report, Azad had accompanied his daughter to the demonstration when Bhardwaj and two or three others confronted him for recording a video. The argument allegedly escalated into an assault, leaving Azad with head injuries that required more than seven stitches.

The case attracted renewed attention after Bhardwaj appeared on a podcast on Wednesday and claimed responsibility for fracturing Azad’s skull. He also suggested that he had avoided imprisonment because Union minister Chirag Paswan and Delhi minister Kapil Mishra were like his “elder brothers”.

Clips from the podcast circulated widely online, prompting Azad’s 14-year-old daughter to appeal publicly for assistance. The BHIM Army, the Cockroach Janta Party and the Indian Youth Congress subsequently held a demonstration outside Parliament Street police station on Friday.

A senior police officer said the original FIR had been amended to include provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and charges relating to criminal intimidation.

Police have also registered a separate case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act after the minor allegedly received rape threats through posts and messages sent by Bhardwaj and his associates.

Bhardwaj was picked up by a Delhi Police team in Bulandshahr on Friday afternoon and brought to the capital. He was formally arrested early on Saturday and questioned by investigators.

Police are also considering adding an attempted murder charge after a fresh medical examination of Azad. An officer said the provision could be invoked if medical evidence established that a sharp weapon had been used during the assault.

The medico-legal report cited in the FIR recorded lacerations on the right frontal and left parietal regions of Azad’s head, while the precise nature of the injuries remained under observation.

Bhardwaj’s associates criticised the police action and claimed that his comments during the podcast were sarcastic. They also cited an earlier social media video in which Azad appeared to suggest that the situation could have escalated had the police not intervened.

Azad rejected that interpretation, maintaining that the video had been presented without its proper context. He alleged that the police had initially failed to provide adequate assistance despite his injuries and said his daughter was later subjected to threats and targeted through online videos.

Paswan has since distanced himself from Bhardwaj and said he had complained to Delhi Police about the accused allegedly misusing his name.

Bhardwaj’s supporters also demonstrated outside Parliament Street police station on Saturday. Security was strengthened in the area, with paramilitary personnel deployed and access to the station restricted.

Bhardwaj had been briefly detained on the day of the alleged assault but was released within hours. He subsequently claimed on social media that he had close ties with Paswan and Mishra.

With agency inputs