On 26 February, the Delhi High Court while hearing a plea filed by the retired bureaucrat Harsh Mander who sought judicial inquiry into the incidents of violence in Delhi over the Citizenship Amendment Act has asked a clip of Bharatiya Janata Pary leader Kapil Mishra’s remarks made at Northeast Delhi hours before the violence broke out, to be played inside the court.
While the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Delhi Police insisted to postpone the matter till tomorrow, seeking to make Union of India a party to this case, the bench headed by Justice Muralidhar reverted with the remark asserting “Isn’t lodging of FIRs against the culprits an urgent matter? The situation out there is very unpleasant.”
“There are videos that hundreds of people have watched. Do you still think it’s not an urgent matter?” added the bench.
Further, when a policeman informed the court that he has seen videos of the violence, but not of Mishra’s, the bench asserted that “There are so many TVs in your office, how can police officer say that he hasn’t watched the videos. I’m really appalled by the state of affairs of Delhi Police.” Subsequently, the judge ordered the Mishra’s clip to be played in the court.
On 22 February, protests against the CAA started in Jafrabad, Maujpur and other areas of Northeast Delhi, but flared up after Mishra reached the area and asked the police to remove protesters within three days. The protestors were seen roaming on streets with swords and pistols, while houses and vehicles in the area were being torched, with more than 250 injured in two days of violence.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while stating that the police even after all its efforts failed to control the situation, has asked Home Minister Amit Shah to call the army to instill confidence in people. He further called in for an emergency meeting on Tuesday and instructed the city officials to coordinate with central agencies in restoring peace in the violence-hit areas.
