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Hindutva man boasts with pride of 'cracking man's skull': FIR lodged following protest

Bhardwaj, showing no shred of remorse, seemed to smile throughout the viral podcast, bragging that his assault could have invited a charge of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, while jeering at the hapless daughter and flaunting his cruelty.

A self-styled influencer, Swatantra Bhardwaj, who boasted with pompous gusto on a podcast that he had cracked the skull of the father of a protester during the student-led protests at Jantar Mantar, and how he got away with it due to his strong association with BJP leaders, triggered a fierce siege outside the Parliament Street police station by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which relented only after an FIR was lodged against him.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke informed about the FIR registered against Bhardwaj, whom he described as a “Sanghi goon”, with an assurance that he would be arrested within 72 hours. “It took two months and a protest just to get an FIR registered for a hate crime that happened right in front of the police,” Dipke wrote on X.

The furore stems from an assault during the June 23 crackdown against students mobilised over irregularities in the national examination system when Ghaziabad resident Sanjay Kumar, who had accompanied his minor daughter Nishu Azad to the sit-in, was battered so severely that he required sixty surgical stitches to piece his skull together.

Bhardwaj, who did not show a shred of remorse while narrating the incident, seemed to be smiling throughout the podcast in the viral video and even bragged that his assault could have invited a charge of attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code, while jeering at the hapless daughter and sneering that he had the raw nerve to publicise his cruelty.

Bhardwaj was also in high spirits about his BJP connections, naming Kapil Mishra and Union minister Chirag Paswan, and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he addressed as “elder brothers”, claiming that he was out all night after being insulated from incarceration following a call from Kapil Mishra.

In another video, Bhardwaj is heard boasting about attacking protesters with a kada and declaring that he had the “guts” to admit his crimes. He also appeared to threaten future violence, referring to “belt treatment” and even “katta” treatment.

The protest snowballed following the pompous confession into a show of cross-party solidarity, as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Azad Samaj Party chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad, Delhi Youth Congress head Akshay Lakra, and Purnea MP Pappu Yadav rallied alongside CJP leaders.

“There is no need to panic. I am with you,” Gandhi said, alleging that Nishu was being targeted for raising her voice over the rights of students and her community.