Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida reportedly questioned on Tuesday content creator Ajeet Bharti over his comments made on social media on the incident where an advocate attempted to hurl a shoe at Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai a day earlier.
Ajeet Bharti, however, claimed that he was summoned to the police station only in connection with one of his recent social media posts.
Who is Ajeet Bharti?
Born in Bihar, Ajeet Bharti is an independent journalist, author, and a independent media creator who produces content (videos, commentary, satire) on political, social, judicial, and cultural issues.
He has worked with several mainstream media outlets in the past and subsequently, established his own media brand – AB4K Media – and continues independent analysis.
“Ajeet Bharti is a known name in Indian alternative media where he has never shied away from questioning and attacking any institution, be it government, judiciary or media itself. He brings to you detailed analysis on a topic of interest, trending stories, movies that have cultural roots and daily political developments,” his website reads.
Ajeet Bharti also makes ‘roast’ videos, which his website says give a flavour of Bharti’s political and social satire brilliance. “His commentary on judiciary has earned him two contempt proceedings allowed by the attorney general of India. Yet, he remains undeterred and keeps his foot on the paddle, if necessary,” the website reads.
Ajeet Bharti co-founded ‘DO politics’ before moving away from there and starting his own company that “aims to be free from the biased narrative of mainstream media to bring opinion and analysis with factual cohesiveness that news media is generally lacking”.
He is also an author. His works include Bakar Puran, Ghar Wapasi, There Will Be No Love, and Jo Bhi Kahunga Sach Kahunga.
Ajeet Bharti has a strong social media presence. Bfive harti has nearly 5 lakh X (formerly Twitter) followers and over seven lakh YouTube subscribers on his main accounts.
What did Ajeet Bharti say on CJI?
The police said Bharti was first taken to the Sector 58 police station and later to the DCP office at the 12/22 outpost for questioning. There was social media chatter that Ajeet Bharti was arrested. Noida police’s Sumit Shukla denied this when contacted, but it was later reported that the police did question him on Tuesday.
After the questioning, aJEET Bharti posted on ‘X’ that he was “fine” and clarified that he had neither been arrested nor was in police custody.
Meanwhile, activist Suraj Kumar Bauddh, founder of Mission Ambedkar, has written to Attorney General R Venkataramani seeking consent for initiating criminal contempt proceedings against Bharti and a religious orator for allegedly making objectionable statements on social media.
“These statements and actions are aimed at provoking violence against the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and other judges. The tone and tenor of such public provocation are extremely dangerous, and these posts have gone viral, creating heated debates and escalating tensions,” PTI news agency quoted the letter.
Begusarai resident Ajeet Bharti and two of his podcast guests allegedly abused CJI BR Gavai and incited people to attack him over “Hindu pride”, as per clips from one of his recent YouTube videos.
Reacting to these clips going viral, Bharti doubled down and put up a video on his X and other social platforms hours after the show-hurling, taunting the CJI and smirking at the incident.
He captioned it: “Gavai is a lousy, undeserving judge judge, and he should face a contempt (of court) case.”
In another remark about his Dalit-Ambedkarite background for instance, Bharti said in the video: “I wanted to make a video about ‘shoes and the Chief Justice’ after seeing his shoes in a photo recently, but could not shoot that one for some reason. Well, it seems ‘shoes’ were sticking to him ever since!”
A 71-year-old lawyer – Rakesh Kishore – attempted to hurl a shoe at CJI Gavai in his courtroom in the Supreme Court on Monday, an incident that has drawn widespread condemnation.
