A Delhi court on Tuesday granted Swatantra Bhardwaj interim bail for three weeks in connection with the alleged assault of the father of a Dalit student-activist during a protest at Jantar Mantar. Bhardwaj, a right-wing influencer, was arrested in Uttar Pradesh on September 5 and has been in judicial custody. The court's interim bail order came a day after Bhardwaj's counsel argued that his arrest was politically motivated and claimed that the complainant had attacked Bhard, according to the Times of India.

The court hearing on Monday was attended by advocate Umesh Sharma, who told the court that a video purportedly showed the complainant attacking Bhardwaj. "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, stating that Bhardwaj had initially received a police notice to appear for questioning on June 27 and appeared before investigators on June 29, after which he was allowed to leave.

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, but a casteist slur was included in a subsequent statement, following which provisions of the SC/ST Act were added. 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.

The case is registered under the SC/ST Act. The 21-year-old was sent to 14 days of judicial custody last week. The influencer was detained in Bulandshahr earlier this month, hours after the CJP held a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault. The detention came amid outrage over an interview in which Bhardwaj claimed he had "cracked the skull" of the student activist’s father during the protest and escaped arrest because of his political connections. He later claimed that he had acted in self-defence. The Delhi Police had earlier said the injuries suffered by the student activist's father were "simple in nature".

Lawyers had claimed Swatantra Bhardwaj could be attacked in jail. After Bhardwaj was arrested, his lawyers had claimed that the 'right-wing influencer' faces the risk of being attacked in jail by 'anti-national elements'. A day after his arrest, Bhardwaj’s advocate, Piyush Jain, told news agency ANI that the police initially produced the accused via video conferencing to secure the one-day remand. "Yesterday, the police produced Swatantra Bharadwaj via video conferencing and obtained one day of police custody," he said. "The matter is currently before the Duty Metropolitan Magistrate (MM), who lacks the authority to hear bail applications. Consequently, the Duty MM will simply remand him to judicial custody. The actual hearing regarding the case will take place in the special designated court for SC/ST matters," he added.

The most critical issue is the intent behind sending him to jail. We have received information suggesting that Swatantra Bharadwaj could be attacked while in jail; certain anti-national elements aim to attack him to send a message to the Government of India. Therefore, I urge the Government of India and Delhi CM Rekha Gupta to ensure that comprehensive security arrangements are made for him within Tihar Jail.