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The Delhi Police on Wednesday 15 July submitted an affidavit in the Delhi High Court claiming that it hasn't found any evidence indicating that Kapil Mishra and other BJP leaders like Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma had any role in instigating the Northeast Delhi Riots.
The sworn affidavit assessed by The Quint, says that if the course of the investigation the role of aforesaid persons in commissioning of the offences in the respective FIRs would surface, then Delhi police would be duty bound to take statutory steps as mandated under the law against the aforesaid persons.” It goes on to add, “However, no fresh FIR is warranted at this stage.”
This story will lay down the allegations against Mishra in the complaints and the fact-finding report and also provide the BJP leader’s response to the same.
The first complaint explicitly naming Mishra was filed on 23 February - the day violence erupted in Northeast Delhi. It was received at the Delhi Police Headquarters on 24 February.
Here are some excerpts from what the complaint says about the events of 23 February:
On hearing this Kapil Mishra’s henchmen attacked protesters gathered at Kardampuri with stones, the complainant claims.
Another complaint naming Kapil Mishra was filed at Dayalpur Police Station on 17 March. The complainant is a resident of Yamuna Vihar.
Regarding what happened on 23 February, this complainant partly confirms what is written in the above complaint.
Despite these two complaints filed months ago, the Delhi Police hasn’t even registered an FIR against Kapil Mishra.
We have withheld the names of the complainants for safety reasons. We would be willing to share the details with the police if called upon to do so.
The Delhi Minorities Commission released its fact-finding report on the Northeast Delhi riots on Thursday, 16 July. Kapil Mishra’s speech at Maujpur on the afternoon of 23 February forms a key part of the chronology laid down by the fact-finding report.
The report says:
The report quotes Mishra’s speech in which he allegedly said:
“This is what they wanted. This is why they blocked the roads. That’s why a riot-like situation has been created. From our side not a single stone has been pelted. DCP is standing beside us. On behalf of all of you, I am saying that till the time [US President] Trump goes back [from India], we are going to go forward peacefully. But after that, we will not listen to the Police if roads are not cleared after three days. By the time Trump goes, we request the Police to clear out Jafrabad and Chand Bagh. After that, we will have to come on the roads. Bharat mataki jai! Vande Mataram!”
In its findings section, the report slams the police for failing to act against Mishra. The report says:
The report says that not just Mishra, the speeches of BJP leaders directing hatred against CAA protesters vitiated the communal atmosphere in Northeast Delhi.
The Quint reached out to Kapil Mishra for his response to the allegations made in the complaints.
However, instead of responding to the charges, the BJP leader said, “In my personal opinion The Quint is Anti India and Anti Hindu and totally biased against Truth (sic)”.
The Delhi Police’s reluctance to file an FIR against Kapil Mishra and inquire into the complaints that have been filed need to be seen in line with the Centre’s earlier reluctance on this matter.
This was in response to a petition seeking registration of an FIR against Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Pravesh Verma for their alleged hate speeches.
While hearing the petition, Justice Muralidhar expressed “anguish” that the city is burning and questioned the Delhi Police on the delay and its lack of acknowledgment of the speeches themselves as crimes.
The judge was later transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Despite this, the Solicitor General said that that FIRs will only be “registered at an appropriate stage”. The Centre was given four weeks to respond on the matter. It has been over four months, but there has been no FIR even now.
A same approach could be seen in the case of BJP councillor Kanhaiya Lal. The Delhi Police used the testimony of an eyewitness named Nisar Ahmed in three charge sheets but omitted all references to Kanhaiya Lal.
This reluctance is in sharp contrast with how the Delhi Police has treated alleged evidence against the anti-CAA protesters. The protests in Jamia Millia Islamia in December figure prominently in the “chronology” section in the charge sheets filed by the Delhi Police, despite the fact that these were two months before and 20 kilometers away from where the riots took place.
The Jamia protests were used as evidence against members of the Jamia Coordination Committee like Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar, who have been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
While Jamia protests from December were considered relevant enough for the organisers to be booked under UAPA, but Mishra’s speech at Maujpur hours before violence broke out at that very spot, weren’t considered worthy of even an FIR.
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Published: 16 Jul 2020,07:28 PM IST