New Delhi: The Delhi police on Wednesday opposed a plea that sought an FIR against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kapil Mishra for his alleged role in the 2020-Delhi riots.
Responding to a plea filed by Yamuna Vihar resident Mohammad Ilyas, the police said that Mishra’s alleged role in the communal violence had already been investigated and nothing incriminating was found.
Ilyas had moved the court in December 2024 seeking an investigation into Mishra and six other people’s role in the riots that left 53 dead and over 700 injured.
The matter was heard by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia.
Also read: ‘Delhi Riots Began With Kapil Mishra’s Speech, Yet No Case Against Him’: Minority Commission Report
The petition named Mishra, Mustafabad MLA and deputy speaker Mohan Singh Bisht, the then DCP (North East), the then SHO of the Dayalpur police station, and former BJP legislator Jagdish Pradhan, for their alleged involvement in the riots, the Hindu reported.
Ilyas claimed that he saw Mishra and others blocking a road in Kardampuri and destroying the handcarts of street vendors, on February 23, 2020. He also said that the former (North East) DCP and some other officers stood with Mishra as he threatened anti-CAA protesters.
Ilyas in his petition also said that he saw former Dayalpur SHO and others vandalising mosques across north-east Delhi.
The court will pronounce its decision on the plea in the next hearing scheduled for March 24.
Delhi riots case and Mishra’s incendiary speech
The police have named several student leaders and activists including Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima and Sharjeel Imam as co-conspirators of the riots.
However, a 10-member fact finding team formed by the Delhi minorities commission had said that the violence in Delhi was “planned and targeted” and held Mishra responsible for it.
The report said that “violence started in different pockets almost immediately after the short speech of Shri Kapil Mishra on 23 February, 2020 at Maujpur in which he openly called for forcefully removing the protestors at Jafrabad in North East Delhi.”
It added that Mishra, clearly said that he and his supporters will take matters into their own hands, when he said, “but after that we will not listen to the police if roads are not cleared after three days…”
The committee said that “the open admission of ‘not listening’ to the police and extra-legal tactics should have been seen by the authorities present as inciting violence.” But with the police not apprehending or arresting Mishra, despite DCP Ved Prakash Surya standing right next to him, the committee said “this indicates that they failed to take the first and most immediate preventive step needed to avoid violence from arising and (to) protect life and property.”
Mishra is now the minister of law and justice in the BJP-led Delhi government.
