Delhi court sets aside order to file FIR against BJP leader Kapil Mishra in 2020 riots case

A Delhi court on Monday set aside a lower court’s order that had directed the police to file a first information report against Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Delhi minister Kapil Mishra for his alleged involvement in the violence that broke out in the city in February 2020, Bar and Bench reported.

Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh of the Rouse Avenue Courts quashed the April 1 order passed by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasiya.

Chaurasia had held that there was enough material to warrant further investigation into whether Mishra had committed a cognisable offence.

Cognisable offences under Indian law are serious crimes that threaten public safety or order. The police can register a case and make arrests for such crimes without court approval. The crimes Mishra is accused of are cognisable offences.

The court said that the evidence put forward by the prosecution pointed to the fact that Mishra was present in the area in question and that “all the things were corroborating”.

The court passed the order on a plea filed by 57-year-old Mohammad Ilyas.

Ilyas previously told Scroll that he had approached the police three times asking for a case to be registered against Mishra, but was told that they would register his complaint only against unspecified “rioters”.

In March, the Delhi Police opposed the plea before the court, alleging a conspiracy...

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