New Delhi, March 20: A Delhi court on Thursday directed Delhi Police to file a detailed report over the material collected from microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, in a case against Delhi minister Kapil Mishra. Mishra is accused of posting objectionable statements from his X handle on January 23, 2020, in connection with then Delhi legislative assembly elections. Based on a complaint of the returning officer, an FIR was registered against him.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasiya directed the DCP northwest Delhi to file the report by April 18. During the hearing, the judge exempted Mishra from personally appearing in court on his plea of being occupied with cabinet meetings on the upcoming budget sessions. A special court on March 7 dismissed his plea against the summons issued to him for making “objectionable statements” and violating the model code of conduct in 2020. Court Set to Hear Arguments in MCC Violation Case Against Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra
Special judge Jitendra Singh observed the Election Commission of India was under a constitutional obligation to prevent the candidates from indulging in “vitriolic vituperation with impunity, vitiating and contaminating the atmosphere for free and fair election”. Kapil Mishra Challenges Trial Court’s Decision on Alleged Inflammatory Remarks in Delhi HC.
The judge said he was in complete agreement with the magisterial court that the complaint filed by the returning officer was sufficient to take cognisance of the offence under Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act. Mishra’s statements, the court said, appeared 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”.
