Court pulls up police for slack probe into BJP minister’s ‘hate tweets’

The Delhi Police were criticised by a local court for failing to “properly” investigate Delhi Minister and BJP leader Kapil Mishra in a 2020 case linked to his controversial tweets during the Delhi Assembly elections.

Mishra had allegedly tweeted that the polls were a battle between “India and Pakistan” and referred to Shaheen Bagh, the site of anti-CAA protests, as “mini-Pakistan” supposedly created by the AAP and the Congress.

An FIR was lodged against Mishra after the returning officer flagged his tweets as potential violations of the Model Code of Conduct and the Representation of the People Act, accusing him of attempting to create division between communities during the 2020 elections.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia of the Rouse Avenue Court expressed disappointment over the lack of progress in obtaining evidence related to Mishra’s Twitter (now X) handle, despite consistent directions since March 2024. The judge said the court had made several efforts to push the investigation forward, but they had gone nowhere.

On April 8 this year, the Delhi Police had submitted that they were trying to get information from Twitter/X. However, no officer was present in the court to explain any developments or follow up on the court’s directions. The judge remarked that before making strong observations on the “casual attitude” of the police, he was compelled to inform the Delhi Police Commissioner of the situation.

He said if help from other ministries was needed, the police had the authority and resources to seek it. “This court is attaching three key order sheets dated March 4, 2024, March 20, 2025, and April 8, 2025, for the attention of the Police Commissioner and Joint Commissioner, Northern Range, as these highlight the persistent inaction,” the judge said.

The court directed that if the Delhi Police continued to face hurdles in the investigation, they must inform the court without delay. A copy of the order was also sent to the Joint Commissioner, who had already been informed about the status of the case back in March. The matter is next scheduled for hearing on July 7.

Delhi