Five years after the violence, a Delhi court on Tuesday, April 1, ordered the Delhi police to lodge an FIR against law minister Kapil Mishra in the 2020 riots case in the northeastern part of the city.

The court observed that the material submitted by the prosecution confirmed that Mishra was present in the area in question and “all the things were corroborating,” the Live Law reported.

Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia found a “prime facie” cognisable offence, requiring a probe. “It is clear that Mishra was in the area at the time of (the) alleged offence… further probe required,” the judge said.

The court was hearing a plea filed by petitioner Mohammad Ilyas, a resident of Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar area. Ilyas appealed to the court to lodge an FIR against Mishra as well as the station house officer (SHO) of Dayalpur police station and five others, including BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht and former party legislator Jagdish Pradhan.

Ilyas, in his petition, claimed the involvement of Kapil Mishra in the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, between February 24, 2020 and February 26, resulting in deaths of more than 50 people and leaving over 700 people injured.

Ilyas alleged that on February 23, 2020, Mishra, along with former (North East) DCP and some other officers, threatened the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protestors, blocked a road in Kardampuri and destroyed the handicrafts of street vendors

However, in March this year, the Delhi police opposed Mishra’s role in the 2020 Delhi riots. Earlier, the police had named student protestors, including incarcerated Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fatima and Sharjeel Imam as co-conspirators of the riots.

Soon after the riots, a 10-member fact-finding team was formed by the Delhi minorities commission, which submitted its report in July 2020, clearly stating Mishra’s involvement in the deadly riots.

The report stated that Kapil Mishra openly threatened to take “matters into their own hands if the roads are not cleared after three days…”

The. report on rhw 2020 Delhi riots read, “The open admission of `not listening’ to the police and extra-legal tactics should have been seen by the authorities present as inciting violence. But with the police not apprehending or arresting Mishra, despite DCP Ved Prakash Surya standing right next to him, indicates that they failed to take the first and most immediate preventive step needed to avoid violence from arising and (to) protect life and property.”