New Delhi: An anti-reservation or ‘quota reform’ YouTuber, Ajeet Bharti, was denied anticipatory bail by a Delhi court on Monday (September 7) in a case filed under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The Additional Sessions Judge Saurabh Pratap Singh Laler of Patiala House Courts rejected his plea, reports Live Law.Bharti faces legal action after he used abusive language, including caste-based slurs, on his channel, allegedly in relation to members of Scheduled Castes. The case against him has been filed by a member of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) led by Chandrasekhar Azad, Lok Sabha member from Nagina in western Uttar Pradesh. Many of Bharti’s remarks were directed against Azad.The rejection of anticipatory bail does not imply that Bharti’s arrest is imminent, Delhi Police reportedly said during the hearing. Police also said the anticipatory bail plea was not maintainable on this ground.The investigating officer had not issued notice to Bharti and that all the offences invoked in the FIR carry a maximum punishment of seven years.Bharti also made derogatory references to the the Nagina MP’s appearance, followed by remarks about his family members, especially women members. While several media outlets describe him as a ‘quota-reform’ activist, Bharti questioned the need for reservation in India by making the argument that India’s first law minister, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, did not have access to reservation.He also referred to Ambedkar’s wife as being a Brahmin woman.Bharti did all of this in response to a comment by a YouTube user on his own channel’s live chat, which had no connection to Azad Samaj Party or Chandrashekhar Azad. The comment (written on August 22) had said that Bharti should “marry his sister to Azad”, leading to the flurry of remarks about Azad, members of Scheduled Castes, reservation policies and Ambedkar.“My references to Babasaheb Ambedkar are with the deepest respect that his followers should not make such disgusting statements,” Dehadrai said, Bar & Bench reports.Bharti was represented in court by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, who said his client had “no discriminatory feeling” towards Scheduled Castes, and was only responding to the “grave provocation” of his sister being dragged into the matter by “someone”.Dehadrai argued earlier in the day before the court’s order that the charges against Bharti needed to be established as prima facie true before action could be taken against him.The FIR has been lodged at the North Avenue Police Station and includes and Sections 196(1)(c) and 351(3) related to aggravated criminal intimidation of the BNS as well as Information Technology Act, reports LiveLaw.Bharti’s August 22 live discussion and comments came close after the Jantar Mantar protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party and other youth and student outfits had ended, while the space was increasingly occupied by anti-reservation ‘activists’ of whom several have made comments of a casteist nature.“You are an insult to intelligence if you believe there is a caste group that was not permitted to drink water for 5,000 years,” he said, referring to the exclusion of Dalits from water sources, a part of practice of untouchability. “I don’t mind insulting those who are dumb, who are idiots…I am always ready for them,” he said.The complaint against Azad has been filed by Balakram Bauddh, the Delhi state president of the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram). A detailed order of the court in this matter is awaited.