The Delhi High Court rejects YouTuber Ajeet Bharti’s plea for anticipatory bail in a case registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court holds that a prima facie case exists and that the law includes a statutory bar on granting pre-arrest bail in such matters.
The case is linked to alleged remarks made by Bharti during a YouTube broadcast that concern Chandrashekhar Azad, an MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Nagina constituency. According to the reports, an FIR is registered after the remarks, and Bharti is booked under Sections 3(1)(r) and 3(1)(s) of the SC/ST Act, which relate to insulting/intimidating members of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and abusing them using caste references in public.
Across outlets, the central focus is the court’s reasoning: the High Court treats the allegations as meeting the initial threshold under the SC/ST Act and dismisses the anticipatory bail request. One report also mentions arguments about whether the SC/ST Act should apply based on provocation, but the court does not accept that contention at this stage.
