Former JNU student Umar Khalid (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey) The prosecution told a court on Monday there was a proposal to incite violence by the main conspirators of the Northeast Delhi riots of 2020 and BJP leader Kapil Mishra was not in the picture as it opposed the bail of former JNU student Umar Khalid in connection with one of the cases.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad made his arguments before Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Amitabh Rawat and dismissed the complicity of Mishra in the riots.
While reading out portions of some WhatsApp chats, Prasad told the court, “There was a proposal to incite violence as on 17th February 2020 which is the time when you draw a narrative that Kapil Mishra came there…Where was Kapil Mishra then? He has not even surfaced anywhere and your proposal to incite violence has surfaced.”
“Blockade is not the picture. The picture is the riots that follow, the riots which happen. That is the reason despite the fact that you have blocked crucial locations, you say this. Kapil Mishra is not there till now, not a whisper on 17th. For that you need a name and a narrative,” Prasad argued.
The SPP spent most of the hearing reading from the WhatsApp chats of several accused in the main conspiracy case, arguing several incidents of rioting in the aftermath of the anti-CAA and NRC protests had much in common with the Delhi riots.
Prasad told the court that there was “prior planning” ahead of the riots as “petrol bombs is not something you buy in a shop.” “You need someone to make it and someone who knows how to use it. There is prior planning. First phase riots were also not spontaneous,” Prasad told the court.
The SPP submitted that the FIR’s registered in both incidents had identical patterns like the involvement of common people. “The reason why first phase riots failed was that the desired mobilisation was not there. They couldn’t do that much of mobilisation,” the SPP argued.
As Prasad was arguing over the WhatsApp chats, ASJ Rawat said, that “one common thread” he has seen on the arguments made by the SPP was that “when somebody has done something and he has said something in the group then you say they have said something nasty but when they don’t, you say they are so clever.”
Prasad told the court, “There is incitement to violence and silence. I will show from the record why this is a conspiracy of silence. It is my contention which I will make good by their conduct.”
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