A Delhi court on Friday said the word “Pakistan” was “very skillfully woven” by BJP leader and Delhi’s new law and order minister Kapil Mishra “to promote enmity on the grounds of religion” and “spew hatred” “only to garner votes” in 2020, reported Live Law.
Special judge Jitendra Singh of Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court made the remarks while rejecting Mishra’s plea challenging a summon in connection with a case lodged over alleged social media posts he had put out in 2020. In the post, Mishra had allegedly said that AAP and Congress created a “mini Pakistan” in Shaheen Bagh and called the 2020 Delhi elections a “India vs Pakistan” contest.
Singh also termed the use of the word “Pakistan” to denote a particular religion “unfortunate”.
According to Bar and Bench, he observed: “At this stage, the alleged statements of the revisionist [Kapil Mishra] appear to be a brazen attempt to promote enmity on the grounds of religion by way of indirectly referring to a ‘country’ which unfortunately in common parlance is often used to denote the members of a particular religion. The word ‘Pakistan’ is very skilfully weaved by the revisionist in his alleged statements to spew hatred, careless to communal polarisation that may ensue in the election campaign, only to garner votes.”
In 2020, Mishra was booked for promoting enmity between classes under the Representation of People Act. The FIR was based on a letter sent by the office of returning wherein it was alleged that Mishra had violated the model code of conduct and the RPA ahead of the then Delhi assembly polls.
The chargesheet against Mishra in the case was filed in November 2023. A month after he was summoned by the court of then additional chief metropolitan magistrate Priyanka Rajpoot, Mishra moved a revision plea before the Rouse Avenue Court in July 2024.
The 2020 Delhi riots
In 2020, within days of a “provocative” speech made by Mishra on February 23, communal violence erupted in Northeast Delhi killing at least 53 people.
Newslaundry had reported on how several references to Mishra had popped up in a WhatsApp group that the Delhi Police had zeroed in on during its investigation into the riots. According to the police chargesheet, the WhatsApp group “Kattar Hindut Ekta”, was created to conspire and kill Muslims and vandalise their properties and local mosques.
In March 2020, Newslaundry had reported that in the aftermath of the carnage, multiple dead bodies were recovered from drains in NorthEast Delhi.
While one message on the WhatsApp group in question defended Mishra from the charge that he had incited the Delhi riots, another shared an YouTube interview wherein the leader claimed that those opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act were “trying to break India and insult Hindu beliefs and the Hindu tradition.”
In November 2020, Mishra had also floated an online network, which he described as the “Hindu Ecosystem". Newslaundry had infiltrated several Telegram groups, part of Mishra’s ecosystem. Read this story to find out what all we unearthed.
In the recently concluded 2025 Delhi assembly polls, Mishra won the Karawal Nagar constituency by a thumping margin of 23,355 votes by defeating AAP’s Manoj Tyagi.
Check out Newslaundry’s in-depth, exhaustive coverage of the Delhi elections from the ground here.
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