‘Brazen attempt to promote enmity’: Court rejects BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s plea against summons

A Delhi court on Friday dismissed a revision petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra challenging the summons in connection with a 2020 case under the Representation of the People Act, PTI reported.

Special Judge Jitendra Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court said that Mishra’s statements 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”, PTI reported.

The word “Pakistan is very skilfully woven by the revisionist [Mishra] in his alleged statements to spew hatred, careless to communal polarisation that may ensue in the election campaign, only to garner votes”, The Indian Express reported.

Mishra, who is now the law minister in the Delhi government, has been accused of posting allegedly objectionable comments in the electronic media on January 23, 2020, in connection with Assembly elections in the national capital. The case was filed based on a complaint by the returning officer.

The case also pertains to a social media post by Mishra that there will be an “India vs Pakistan” contest on the “streets of Delhi” on February 8, 2020, the polling day.

He was booked for promoting enmity between classes in connection with election under section 125 of the...

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