NEW DELHI: AAP MLAs were suspended from the Delhi Assembly after staging a protest demanding the resignation of Minister Kapil Mishra. The protest came a day after a court directed the registration of an FIR against Mishra for his alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots.
During the final day of the first Budget Session of the newly constituted eighth Assembly, 12 AAP MLAs were suspended. The drama unfolded as AAP legislators carried placards, raised slogans, and stormed into the well of the House. This prompted Speaker Vijender Gupta to suspend the 12 opposition MLAs, including Atishi, Kuldeep Kumar, Sanjeev Jha, Mukesh Ahlawat, Surendra Kumar, Jarnail Singh, Aaley Mohammed Iqbal, Anil Jha, Vishesh Ravi, Som Dutt, Sahi Ram, and Prem Chauhan.
Leader of Opposition Atishi, who led the protests, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of shielding Mishra. She questioned why Mishra was not behind bars when all other accused in the riots were in jail. Atishi demanded Mishra’s resignation, but claimed that the BJP was protecting him.
In a post on social media, AAP stated in Hindi that the court had ordered an FIR against Kapil Mishra for his alleged involvement in the deaths of 53 people during the Delhi riots. However, Delhi Police and the BJP government were accused of working to save Mishra, with the chief minister failing to ask for his resignation.
Speaker Gupta instructed the Assembly secretary to verify whether the suspended MLAs remained within the premises and continued their protest despite the suspension order. He emphasized that any MLA who is suspended or marshaled out must vacate the Vidhan Sabha premises entirely, as ruled during the first session of the eighth Assembly on March 3.
The recent ruling addresses a dispute regarding whether suspended legislators are allowed to access certain areas of the Assembly complex, such as the lawns and the office of the Leader of the Opposition.
The protest was sparked by a court ruling from Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vaibhav Chaurasia on Tuesday, which found a prima facie case for investigation against Mishra. The court has instructed Delhi Police to submit a compliance report by April 16.
These legal proceedings originated from a complaint filed by Mohammad Ilyas, a resident of Yamuna Vihar, who accused Mishra of involvement in the communal violence that occurred in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, resulting in 53 fatalities and numerous injuries.
Delhi Police has refuted these allegations, asserting that Mishra played no part in the riots and that there is an attempt to wrongfully implicate him.
