‘Inflammatory remarks’ case: Mishra moves HC

Delhi law minister Kapil Mishra moved the Delhi high court on Monday against a city court’s order refusing to junk proceedings against him over his alleged inflammatory remarks ahead of the 2020 assembly elections.

The first information report (FIR) in the case, registered on January 24, 2020, accused Mishra of violating the model code of conduct (MCC) and the Representation of the People (RP) Act after he allegedly posted inflammatory content on social media.

The matter is listed before a bench of justice Ravinder Dudeja for Tuesday.

Mishra approached the high court after a city court on March 7 refused to quash the summons issued to the minister. In his 15-page order, special judge Jitendra Singh said Mishra’s alleged remarks appeared to be “a brazen attempt to promote enmity on the grounds of religion”.

It held that the implicit reference to Pakistan in his statement was an “unmistaken innuendo to persons of a particular religious community” — a meaning that was “effortlessly understood even by a layman, let alone by a reasonable man”.

In his petition before the high court, Mishra asserted that had not referred to any caste, community, or religion in his remarks but had merely mentioned Pakistan as well as Shaheen Bagh in southeast Delhi. It went on to add that the police did not have any authority to investigate the matter without seeking court’s permission since the offence for which he has been booked is non-cognisable.