For Delhi-based property dealer Mohammad Ilyas, February 23 is a day he is not likely to forget in a very long time.
On that day five years ago, his neighbourhood in northeast Delhi’s Yamuna Vihar was torn apart by the worst communal riots the city had witnessed in decades. The violence claimed the lives of 53 people, majority of them Muslims.
Ilyas claims he saw BJP leader Kapil Mishra, Delhi’s recently-appointed law minister, lead the violence. Within days, Ilyas visited Dayalpur police station to get a case registered against Mishra and other BJP leaders. But, he says, the police refused.
Ilyas didn’t give up. He approached the courts and embarked on a long, arduous legal battle to get Mishra and others booked.
Last week, his pursuit may have finally started to pay some dividends. Based on Ilyas’s petition, a Delhi court directed the police to register a case against Mishra and BJP MLA Mohan Singh Bisht, among others, and “further investigate” their role in the 2020 Delhi riots.
Watch this video to know more about Ilyas’s journey.
Newslaundry is a reader-supported, ad-free, independent news outlet based out of New Delhi. Support their journalism, here.
