Delhi court seeks police report on Kapil Mishra’s alleged inflammatory post
Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia directed the deputy police commissioner (Northwest) to get information from X regarding the post
A Delhi court on Thursday sought a police report on law minister Kapil Mishra’s alleged inflammatory post on Twitter (now X) for which he was booked for violating the Model Code of Conduct in the run-up to the 2020 assembly elections.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia directed the deputy police commissioner (Northwest) to get information from X regarding the post and posted the matter for hearing next on April 8. Mishra was granted an exemption from appearance for Thursday’s hearing.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday refused to immediately stay trial court proceedings against Mishra. A local court this month declined to junk proceedings and quash the summons issued to Mishra. In a 15-page order, special judge Jitendra Singh on March 7 said Mishra’s alleged remarks appeared “a brazen attempt to promote enmity on the grounds of religion”. He added Mishra spewed hatred by mentioning Pakistan to denote members of a religious community.
“The statements of...[Mishra] appear to be a brazen attempt to promote enmity on the grounds of religion by way of indirectly referring to a ‘country’ which unfortunately in common parlance is often used to denote the members of a particular religion,” said special judge Singh.
He observed that the word “Pakistan” was very skilfully weaved in Mishra’s alleged statements to spew hatred, careless to communal polarisation that may ensue in the election campaign only to garner votes. The judge agreed with the trial court’s order taking cognisance of the charge sheet against Mishra. “The Election Commission is under a constitutional obligation to prevent the candidates from indulging in vitriolic vituperation with impunity, vitiating and contaminating the atmosphere of a free and fair election.”
Mishra’s revision plea claimed he did not refer to any caste, community, or religion in his statements but referred to a country—Pakistan—and an area—Shaheen Bagh—both of which are not prohibited under Section 125 of Representation of the People Act.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against Mishra in January 2020, accusing him of violating the MCC and the Representation of the People Act. The charge sheet in the case was filed in November 2023.
Mishra’s lawyer said his client’s statements attempted to highlight how a few social elements were spoiling the atmosphere before the elections through the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act movement.
The March 7 order called the submission “preposterous and outrightly untenable” and said the implicit reference underlying the particular country in the alleged statement is an unmistaken innuendo apparently to generate enmity.
