This article discusses the granting of interim bail to Swatantra Bharadwaj, a Hindutva influencer accused of assault, and the filing of a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and environmental activist Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving funds in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
Swatantra Bharadwaj, a Hindutva influencer who allegedly assaulted the father of a student activist during the Delhi youth protests, was granted three weeks of interim bail. He had been detained on September 4 after a purported video featured him claiming that a phone call from Delhi minister Kapil Mishra helped him avoid arrest for the assault.
The purported video showed him claiming that he had not been jailed despite having ‘cracked the skull’ of Kumar. After it was widely shared, Bharadwaj was booked for causing simple hurt and wrongful restraint. He has claimed that he acted in self-defence and that, had he not done so, he could have ‘lynched by the mob or killed’.
Separately, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Arunachal Pradesh-based lawyer and environmental activist Bhanu Tatak for allegedly receiving funds from abroad in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. Tatak is a legal adviser to the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum and the coordinator of civil society organisation Dibang Resistance. She and the organisations have been protesting against the Siang Multipurpose Project, a proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on Arunachal Pradesh’s Siang river. The organisation Dibang Resistance has also been protesting against a 2,880-megawatt power project on the Dibang river.
The CBI claimed that Tatak has never filed income tax returns and that the foreign funds that she allegedly received were not reflected in any official records.
Source:
Scroll.in
