Case against Kapil Mishra: Court pulls up Delhi Police for 'casual attitude' in following directions
New Delhi, May 27 (PTI): A Delhi court has pulled up Delhi Police for its "casual attitude" in following its directions in a case against Delhi minister Kapil Mishra for his "objectionable statements" in connection with the 2020 Delhi legislative assembly elections.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasiya said he was constrained to bring it to the notice of the Commissioner of Police on the state of affairs and non-adequate explanation on the part of the investigating agency.
The judge had earlier directed the DCP concerned of Delhi Police to file a detailed report over the material collected from microblogging site X in the case.
Mishra is accused of posting objectionable statements from his X handle on January 23, 2020, in connection with the then Delhi legislative assembly elections.
Based on a complaint of the returning officer, an FIR was registered against him.
In an order passed on May 26, the judge noted that on the last date of hearing, April 8, assurance was given by the DCP concerned that efforts were being made to obtain report from X.
The judge noted that no one was present on behalf of the investigating agency to follow up the directions of further investigation.
He said that "without fail, the diligent endeavour was made by this court vide order-sheets dated March 20, April 20, May 10, May 15, June 1, July 1, July 11, July 22, 2024 and March 20 and April 8, 2025 for the collection of evidence qua twitter handle of the accused, 'but in vain'."
The judge said that "before any stringent remarks could be made upon the casual attitude of the investigating agency qua the directions of this court, this court is constrained to bring it to the notice of Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police with respect to the state of affairs and non-adequate explanation on the part of the investigating agency."
The judge further noted that if the aid of any ministry was required, Delhi Police was enough equipped and "will not be shy to take resort to".
Out of the 10 dates above, the judge appended order-sheets of March 20 and April 8, 2025 and April 4, 2024 wherein the directions for the further investigation were laid down by by the court for the perusal of Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police and Joint Commissioner, Northern Range, saying "that will suffice".
"It is also impressed upon the investigating agency to at least procure the relevant material which must be the part of the charge sheet wherein the reasonable time limit had already been granted, as has been directed by this court, and in the present case, it is pending from March 20, 2024 i.e. almost an year. In the case, the Delhi Police fails to investigate or there is any impediment, same be reported to this court," the judge said.
The judge also sought the acknowledgment of receipt of today's order-sheet from the Office of Commissioner of Police, Delhi Police.
The judge posted the matter for further arguments on charge and status report from the Joint Commissioner, Northern Range on July 7.
A special court on March 7 dismissed his plea against the summons issued to him for making "objectionable statements" and violating the model code of conduct in 2020.
Special judge Jitendra Singh observed the Election Commission was under a constitutional obligation to prevent the candidates from indulging in "vitriolic vituperation with impunity, vitiating and contaminating the atmosphere for free and fair election".
The judge said he was in complete agreement with the magisterial court that the complaint filed by the returning officer was sufficient to take cognisance of the offence under Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act.
Mishra's statements, the court said, appeared 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".
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
