Kapil Mishra gets relief as Sessions court quashes order for fresh probe into 2020 Delhi riots
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Delhi Law and Justice Minister and BJP leader Kapil Mishra, whose plea against a magistrate order seeking further probe into his alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots, has been set aside by the Sessions court in Delhi, as the complainant claimed he had seen Mishra and others in Northeast Delhi’s Kardam Puri destroying vendors’ carts, while the Delhi Police maintained that no evidence had been found against him in the earlier investigation.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court passed the order while hearing a revision petition filed by Mishra against the April 1 directive of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia, who had ordered further investigation based on a complaint lodged by Mohammad Ilyas.
The magistrate’s order, which sought to reopen the probe into Mishra’s alleged involvement in the violence that engulfed parts of Northeast Delhi between February 24 and 26, 2020, leaving 53 people dead and over 500 injured, was challenged before the Sessions court shortly after its issuance.
Ilyas, a resident of Yamuna Vihar, had alleged that he witnessed Mishra and several others, including BJP leaders Mohan Singh Bisht and Jagdish Pradhan, blocking a road and damaging property in Kardam Puri, while police officers and senior officials were present at the site, according to The Indian Express.
The complaint also claimed that the then deputy commissioner of police (DCP), along with other personnel, had warned protestors to vacate the area or face consequences, a situation the complainant said preceded the outbreak of violence.
After the magistrate’s direction, Mishra approached the Sessions court, which stayed the order within a week, pending review. During the hearing, the Delhi Police Special Cell, represented by Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, argued that the magistrate lacked jurisdiction to direct further investigation into a matter that had already been thoroughly probed.
The prosecution contended that Mishra’s role had been examined during the initial investigation, and no incriminating evidence was found linking him to the orchestration of the riots.
The Sessions court, after considering the submissions of both sides, ruled in favour of Mishra and set aside the order directing further investigation. The decision effectively upheld the findings of the previous inquiry that had cleared Mishra of allegations related to incitement and participation in the February 2020 violence, bringing temporary relief to the BJP leader while marking another turn in the long-standing legal and political discourse surrounding the Delhi riots.