Influencer Who Bragged About Hitting Student's Father At CJP Protest Detained

Right-wing influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj, the man accused of assaulting the father of student activist Nishu Azad during the Cockroach Janta Party's July protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, was detained in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, the Delhi Police said.

This came after CJP representatives said Delhi Police assured that Bhardwaj would be arrested within 72 hours.

CJP co-conveners Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, scores of supporters, and MPs Chandrashekhar Azad of the ASP and Pappu Yadav, an independent aligned with the Congress, reached the Parliament Street police station and sought action against Bhardwaj. Youth Congress activists were there, too, as the issue gained further traction after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi posted in support of Nishu Azad on X, alleging that she and her family were attacked also because of their caste identity as Dalits.

The case blew up after a video clip of an interview went viral in which Bhardwaj, a self-described "kattar (hardline) Hindu", claimed to have "cracked the skull" of Nishu's father, Sanjay Kumar, during the protest. He bragged about escaping jail despite the seriousness of the offence.

"Do you know which section this crime attracts? Section 307. He needed 60 stitches. The man was being taken away in an ambulance in a serious condition. His daughter was standing outside the police station and saying that she would die by suicide if her father didn't get justice. But I was not even jailed. The world should know this. I was out and about through the night," Bhardwaj is heard saying in the video clip from a podcast.

Since then, the CJP, which had organised the protest where the attack took place, alleged that police failed to take adequate action against him.

The controversy intensified on Thursday after police said 38-year-old Kumar had suffered a head injury in a scuffle and rejected claims that his skull had been fractured.

Rahul Gandhi made a post later in the night, sharing Nishu's video urging him to help. He wrote, "Nishu, do not panic. I'm with you. It's clear that you're being targeted because you raise your voice for the rights of your community and students." He attacked the Home Minister, from whom he has been seeking accountability over the police action at the July 20 CJP march too. "Amit Shah's Delhi Police, on the one hand, commits inhuman brutality against students. On the other hand, the criminal who smashed the head of a Dalit girl's father is roaming freely in the open," he wrote. He tagged PM Narendra Modi and Shah and alleged that Swatantra Bhardwaj has their "protection".

"Nishu, your fight is not yours alone. We won't stop until justice is served," he wrote.