A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, took serious note on Thursday of submissions that the girl and her family were being intimidated after pursuing criminal proceedings linked to violence at a CJP demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
The bench orally sought status reports from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on the FIR, security arrangements for the girl and her family, and action taken against people accused of assault and intimidation. It also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ensure that appropriate action was taken on the complaint and that adequate protection was provided.
“Such matters cannot be taken lightly,” Chief Justice Kant said during the hearing, adding that nobody should be protected where violence against a child was involved. The court said attempts to browbeat a child or her family into abandoning criminal proceedings would constitute a serious matter.
Counsel appearing in the case told the bench that the girl had participated in CJP protests at Jantar Mantar and that her father was assaulted during a demonstration. Social media influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj was subsequently arrested in connection with the alleged assault and is in judicial custody.
Bhardwaj has denied wrongdoing in relation to the confrontation and has maintained that he acted in self-defence. Attention on the case intensified after a video circulated in which he was alleged to have boasted about injuring the girl’s father and avoiding arrest because of political connections.
Delhi Police have also registered a separate FIR concerning alleged online harassment, abuse and rape threats directed at the minor. That case invokes provisions dealing with stalking, insulting the modesty of a woman, criminal intimidation, sexual harassment of a child and the publication or transmission of sexually explicit material involving children. Bhardwaj and unidentified social media users were named in the complaint.
The earlier case concerning the alleged assault on the girl’s father was strengthened after police added provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act and criminal intimidation. Police have said further charges would depend on evidence and medical assessment.
Police detained Bhardwaj in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, before bringing him to Delhi, where a court remanded him to police custody and later sent him to judicial custody. The girl’s father, Sanjay Azad, was treated for head injuries after the Jantar Mantar confrontation that formed the basis of the original assault complaint.
The girl later alleged that people gathered outside her residence in the Shalimar Garden area of Ghaziabad and threw stones towards the house. Videos posted online showed stones inside the premises and contained appeals for police protection. She attributed the intimidation to supporters of Bhardwaj and also alleged political links among those outside the residence.
Those allegations remain disputed. Ghaziabad police said their examination of more than 20 CCTV cameras around the neighbourhood did not reveal evidence of stone pelting. Police had nevertheless begun examining the complaint after the family approached the Shalimar Garden police station.
The protection issue placed before the court on Thursday concerned immediate safety rather than the wider merits of the protest-related disputes. The bench asked the authorities to report on what had been done after the minor’s complaint and on measures taken to prevent further intimidation of her family.
Thursday’s intervention came during proceedings connected with petitions arising from CJP demonstrations and allegations of police excesses against protesters. The Supreme Court has constituted a five-member high-powered committee, headed by retired Supreme Court judge R Subhash Reddy, to examine complaints linked to the protests.
