Bail hearing in Delhi court: Swatantra Bharadwaj says, “I was arrested for political reasons; it was Sanjay Kumar who attacked me, not me.”

After hearing both the parties, the Delhi court has reserved the decision.

Published on: Sep 14, 2026, 5:32 pm

New Delhi. Swatantra Bharadwaj, accused of assaulting Sanjay Kumar, father of child activist and content creator Nishu Azad, during the CJP protest at Jantar Mantar in June, said during the bail plea hearing in a Delhi court on Monday that the Delhi Police arrested him for political reasons. Bharadwaj said that he did not attack but the complainant had attacked him and he was defending himself. The in-camera hearing took place before Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Lallar.

Advocate Umesh Sharma said the complainant has a video of the attack, in which Bhardwaj is seen falling, but the police are not taking action on the video, saying, “The police cannot see the video.” Sharma said he received a notice for questioning on June 27th, appeared on June 29th and was released; following political developments, he was arrested on September 4th, and a new POCSO FIR was subsequently filed.

Complainant’s lawyer, Swati Khanna, stated that Bhardwaj hurled casteist slurs at Nishu and admitted to the attack in a podcast video . Significantly, after the podcast went viral, Nishu appealed to Rahul Gandhi and the Bhim Army chief for help. Subsequently, the CJP, Youth Congress, and Chandrashekhar Azad came out in support of Nishu and met with the Delhi Police. Following increased pressure for action, the SC/ST Act was added to the case.

Khanna informed the court that the habeas corpus petition had been dismissed in the High Court. The Delhi Police told the court that the casteist slur was not mentioned in the initial complaint, but appeared in a later statement, so the SC/ST Act was added. After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its decision. Bhardwaj is currently in judicial custody.