A Delhi court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking the registration of an FIR against Law Minister Kapil Mishra in connection with the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
“The submissions of the counsel for the applicant that (an) FIR be registered for the incident dated 23.02.2020 against proposed accused no.
2 and his associates is legally impermissible at this stage in view of the findings laid down in…the order passed by the Special Judge (PC Act), CBI-09 (MPs-MLAs cases), Rouse Avenue District Court, NewDelhi,” said Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Ashwani Panwar of the Rouse Avenue Court.
He added, “The findings are binding on this court and have attained finality.
The Special Judge has further held…that Section 531(2)(a) of the BNSS does not apply in this case.
Even this finding has attained finality.”
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Panwar predecessor had earlier directed the Delhi Police to investigate Mishra’s alleged role in the riots.
That order was set aside by the Sessions Court whose observations ACJM Panwar relied upon.
Earlier, his predecessor, ACJM Vaibhav Chaurasiya, had found Kapil Mishra’s police interrogation to be insufficient, noting contradictions in his statements regarding the delivery of a speech that was at the centre of controversy related to the riots.
He had also observed that “guesswork” and interpretations had gone into building the prosecution theory that the riots were a pre-planned conspiracy by anti-Citizenship Amendment (CAA) protestors.
Hisorder dated April 1, however, was challenged by two separate revision petitions — one filed by the State and the other filed by Mishra himself.
Last year, on November 11, both petitions were disposed of and directions for further investigation passed by the ACJM were set aside.
While setting aside the directions, the Sessions court had said : “To initiate legal action, the application should have clearly disclosed the commission of a cognizable offence, which it lacks.
To assume cognizable offence, the ACJM relied analogies and inferences from Kapil Mishra’s questioning in the larger conspiracy case.”
In 2020, communal violence had rocked Northeast Delhi between February 24 and 26, leaving 53 people dead, over 500 injured, and property worth crores damaged.
The Sessions Court had ruled that the Magistrate court could not have ordered further investigation since the Delhi Police had already registered an FIR regarding a larger conspiracy behind the riots, and the Karkardooma Court had taken cognisance of it.
On Friday, ACJM Tanwar rejected the plea by Yamuna Vihar resident Mohammad Ilyas filed under Section 156(3) CrPC (175(3) of BNSS), which empowers a magistrate court to order registration of FIR in a cognisable offence.
Ilyas had sought registration of a first information report (FIR) against Mishra on allegations that he took part in the riots.
In his complaint, he had said that he saw Mishra and others blocking a road in Northeast Delhi’s Kardampuri and destroying vendors’ carts.
He had also claimed that the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Northeast Delhi, was standing next to Mishra along with other police personnel, and warning the protestors to vacate the area or face consequences.
The complainant had also claimed that he saw the then Dayalpur SHO, along with BJP leaders Pradhan and Bisht, vandalising mosques across Northeast Delhi.
Advocates Mehmood Pracha and Sikander Raza represented complainant Mohd Ilyas and Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad with advocate Fagun Sharma appeared for the Delhi Police.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations.
Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006.
He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail.
was a branded man.
Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst.
However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation.
The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No.
2 over the past two years alone.
It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts.
The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases.
The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth.
He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
X (Twitter): @Nirbhaya99...
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