The interim bail is for three weeks. Two FIRs have been registered in the matter, the court has directed that the proceedings be conducted in camera, and the reasoned order is yet to be released. Nothing in the case has been tested, and no charge has been established against anyone.
New Delhi: A Delhi court has granted three weeks’ interim bail to Swatantra Bhardwaj in a criminal case arising from the Cockroach Janta Party protest held at Jantar Mantar in July.
Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler of the Patiala House Courts passed the order. A detailed order is awaited.
The proceedings so far
The case is reported to involve two First Information Reports registered against Bhardwaj, one invoking the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and a separate case registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. It has been stated in court that his arrest was effected in connection with the SC/ST Act FIR and not the POCSO case.
A day before the interim bail order, the court decided to conduct the proceedings in camera, that is, closed to the public and the press, after being informed of the nature of the two FIRs. In camera proceedings are the norm in matters engaging the POCSO Act, which restricts the disclosure of any information that could identify a child connected to a case.
The Delhi High Court had earlier rejected a habeas corpus petition filed on Bhardwaj’s behalf challenging the legality of his arrest. He is reported to have been detained in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest.
According to the account on record, the Delhi Police added provisions of the SC/ST Act and of criminal intimidation to an existing FIR concerning an alleged assault, and a case under the POCSO Act was also registered. The matter is said to have drawn attention after remarks Bhardwaj made in a video podcast, in which he is reported to have referred to the incident and to political connections, circulated widely online.
What has and has not been decided
Interim bail is a temporary release pending fuller consideration of a bail application, and it says nothing about the strength of the case. It is granted for a limited period, here three weeks, and lapses or is reconsidered at its end. Nothing about it amounts to a finding on the allegations, which remain untested, or to an acquittal or discharge.
Because the court has directed in camera proceedings and the reasoned order is not yet available, the material that can be reported at this stage is limited. The registration of an FIR reflects the allegations of the informant and is the beginning of an investigation, not a determination of guilt. The offences invoked, under the SC/ST Act, the POCSO Act and the general penal law, carry their own procedures and thresholds, each of which will be tested as the matter proceeds.
Consistent with the statutory protections that attach to a case of this kind, this report does not identify, or carry any detail that could tend to identify, any person the law protects from disclosure, and confines itself to the procedural developments a court has permitted to be reported.
The matter will return before the court in the ordinary course, and the reasoned bail order, once released, will set out the basis on which interim relief was granted.
Court: Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi
Date of Order: September 15, 2026
Status: Interim bail granted for three weeks. Proceedings ordered to be held in camera. Detailed order awaited. Allegations untested; no charge established.