The Delhi High Court has dismissed a group of petitions seeking broad judicial intervention in investigations, evidence preservation, compensation and rehabilitation arising from the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.
In Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq v Union of India and connected cases, decided on 5 October 2026, petitioners alleged police misconduct and sought fresh FIRs, an independent investigative mechanism and further inquiries.
Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain said misconduct allegations, without more, did not justify transferring investigations or ordering a wholesale reinvestigation. Individual complainants retained ordinary legal remedies, but the record did not establish exceptional circumstances requiring the High Court to replace existing investigative and statutory processes.
The Court also declined general compensation and rehabilitation directions. An established claims mechanism had processed numerous cases, and individual loss required fact-specific assessment. Six years after the violence, the petitioners had not demonstrated a systemic failure leaving an identifiable class without remedies.
The bench dismissed the petitions while preserving each affected person’s right to pursue remedies available in law.