The Delhi High Court on Thursday denied anticipatory bail to YouTuber Ajeet Bharti in a case registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 over his alleged remarks concerning MP Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan.
Justice Saurabh Banerjee held that offences under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act were prima facie made out against Bharti and that the statutory bar on anticipatory bail under the Act was attracted.
Section 3(1)(r) criminalises intentional insult or intimidation of a member of an SC/ST community with an intent to humiliate them, while Section 3(1)(s) deals with abusing an SC/ST member by caste name.
The Court held that the petition was not maintainable and accordingly dismissed it. A detailed order is awaited. Bharti had approached the High Court challenging a September 7 order of the trial court, which had rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
An FIR was registered against him at North Avenue Police Station in Delhi on August 23 under the SC/ST Act, Section 67 of the Information Technology Act and Sections 196(1)(c) and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The complaint was lodged by Balakram Bauddh, Delhi State President of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), in relation to a video titled “SB79: Reservation Hatao Andolan Nautanki & More | Saptahik Bakaiti”, published on Bharti’s social media account.
According to the complaint, Bharti allegedly used caste-based and abusive language, made objectionable remarks concerning Dalit leader and MP Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan and Dr BR Ambedkar, used sexually degrading language against women and issued threats.
Bharti, however, has publicly defended his remarks, claiming that they were made in response to a derogatory comment concerning his mother or sister on his video.
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