Court quashes order for inquiry against Minister Kapil Mishra in 2020 riots case
New Delhi: In a major relief to Delhi Law Minister and BJP leader Kapil Mishra, a Delhi sessions court on Monday set aside a magistrate court order that had directed the Delhi Police to conduct a further investigation into Mishra’s alleged role in the 2020 North-East Delhi riots.
Special Judge (PC Act) Dig Vinay Singh at the Rouse Avenue Courts quashed the order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Vaibhav Chaurasiya on April 1, terming it “fundamentally flawed, illegal, and improper.” The magistrate’s order had stemmed from a plea by Mohammad Ilyas, a resident of Yamuna Vihar, who alleged that he had seen Mishra and others blocking a road and vandalising vendors’ carts in Kardampuri during the riots. Ilyas claimed that a senior police officer was also present at the scene but failed to intervene.
In his April 1 order, Magistrate Chaurasiya had raised strong objections to the Delhi Police’s handling of the riots investigation, noting that it relied on “questionable assumptions, guesswork, and interpretations” in framing the theory that the violence was part of a pre-planned conspiracy by anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protestors. He observed, “Once these flaws are outlined, therefore the theory goes off and so does the lens with which prosecution seeks to interpret the facts.” However, the sessions court disagreed with the magistrate’s reasoning, holding that the ACMM had exceeded his jurisdiction by ordering a further probe when a comprehensive investigation was already underway in a related FIR (No. 59/2020), which is currently under trial before the Karkardooma Court.
“The Ld. ACJM could not have ordered such a further investigation because FIR No. 59/2020 was already under trial following the submission of a final report. Under Section 193(9) of BNSS, such a further investigation could not have been ordered after cognizance had been taken by the Ld. Special Judge,” Judge Singh noted in his ruling.
He added that if the complainant’s allegations pertained to an incident not covered under the existing FIR, the magistrate could have directed registration of a separate FIR. “This required a specific finding that there was no connection between the incident alleged by the complainant and the investigation in FIR No. 59/2020,” the court clarified.
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared for Kapil Mishra, while Special Public Prosecutor Amit Prasad, along with advocates Dhruv Pande and Aarush Bhatia, represented the Delhi Police. The complainant, Mohd Ilyas, was represented by advocate Mehmood Pracha. The sessions court had earlier stayed the order on April 9, before finally quashing it on Monday, bringing the matter to a close for now.
