No Leniency for Those Threatening Girl, Parents: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has taken serious note of a petition filed by a 14-year-old girl who alleged that she was receiving threats after participating in protests organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in July. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohan directed the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments on Thursday to submit action-taken reports on the girl’s complaint. The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that threats against the girl and her parents should not be taken lightly, particularly if they were allegedly aimed at preventing those accused of violence against the family from facing legal action.

The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the girl was harassed and her house was allegedly vandalised after a case was registered against a person who had claimed in a video message that he attacked her father during a CJP protest. The counsel further alleged that instead of taking action against the accused and those accompanying him, an FIR was registered against the minor girl herself. Hindu influencer Swatantra Bharadwaj, who was accused of attacking the girl’s father, was taken into custody by police after the CJP staged a protest outside Parliament Street Police Station.