Published 14:30 IST, February 26th 2020
Delhi violence: Kapil Mishra's video screened at HC; hearing adjourned till 2:30 pm
A two-judge Delhi High Court bench adjourned the pleas seeking the formation of SIT to probe the communal violence in the national capital till 2.30 pm.
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On Wednesday, a Delhi HC bench comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Talwant Singh adjourned the pleas seeking the formation of SIT to probe the communal violence in the national capital till 2.30 pm. When the police officer present in the SC claimed that he had not seen the videos of BJP leaders making incendiary statements, Justice Muralidhar played the video featuring BJP leader Kapil Mishra. The police officer then identified the sub-inspector who was spotted standing near Mishra.
Thereafter, Justice Muralidhar gave the transcript of Mishra’s speech to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who demanded more time to go through it. At this juncture, he directed the Solicitor General to “advise the Police Commissioner” in this regard. The petition filed by Harsh Mander alleges that the perpetrators of violence were linked to politicians such as Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur who made provocative statements.
Arguments over urgency
Initially, the Solicitor General urged for the matter to be listed on Thursday before the Chief Justice’s court as he termed it "not urgent". On this point, Justice Muralidhar retorted that lodging FIR against culprits was an urgent matter. He stressed that Mehta needed to convince the court on the matter of urgency.
Violence in Delhi
Violence has broken out in several areas in northeast Delhi such as Maujpur in clashes over the CAA. Amid the rampant violence, Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting on the prevailing law and order situation in the national capital at noon on Tuesday. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leader Subhash Chopra, BJP leader Manoj Tiwari, and other officials participated in the meeting.
Subsequently, the borders of Delhi were sealed. Additionally, the Home Ministry deputed SN Shrivastava as the Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (Law and Order). The NSA’s visit to North-east Delhi on Tuesday night came after the marathon meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah from 7 to 10 pm. Shrivastava also took part in the deliberations. The death toll in the violence has risen to 20 while 189 people have been reported to have sustained injuries in the clashes. The NSA has been put in charge of quelling the violence and will be briefing the Cabinet and the PM on Wednesday.
14:30 IST, February 26th 2020