After Delhi High Court rebuke, Delhi Police initiates probe into detention, torture of student activists

The Delhi Police informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that an inquiry has been initiated into the alleged illegal detention and torture of students and activists in the city in March 2026.

A Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja was told that the Commissioner of Delhi Police has asked the Joint Commissioner of Police to conduct the inquiry.

"We have perused the status report which says that looking into the facts and circumstances of the petitions, the Commissioner of Police has designated the Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) to conduct an inquiry and accordingly, certain proceedings have been undertaken by the Joint Commissioner of Police," the Court recorded in its order.

It said that it would wait for the probe to proceed and hear the matter on July 13.

The Bench said that it wants to examine if the inquiry ordered is a mere eyewash.

"Mostly we dispose of petitions, but we are not doing so in this case because we want to see if it [inquiry] is mere eyewash. We want to see if they want to conceal something or they want to do something. Even if we later find that it was a mere eyewash, we will take it to its logical conclusion," the Bench added.

The Delhi Police initiated the inquiry after a warning from the High Court last month that it may order a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case.

The Bench had observed that there were serious allegations of torture against police officials and that the police’s conduct so far did not inspire confidence. 

“We will not let it go. We might refer the investigation to CBI now. We are almost going there. Either you tell us action is taken or we will take action. We are not going to express any opinion, but we will say the allegations are serious, and we will say that this needs to be investigated by the CBI. You are forcing us to do that. We will say we can’t trust you with the investigation,” the Court had remarked. 

The Court was hearing the habeas corpus petitions related to the alleged detention of students by the police in March 2026.  

The police had contended that the students and activists were under investigation for the alleged disappearance of a woman and supporting Maoist/Naxalite ideologies. It said that the students were taken in for questioning and let go the same day. The next day, the missing girl was recovered and the students joined the investigation voluntarily.

It further told the Court that the allegations of abduction, wrongful confinement, torture, sexual harassment and illegal seizure are “false, fabricated, and devoid of any material particulars”.

The High Court had earlier directed the preservation of CCTV footage of areas from where the students were allegedly picked up. However, the Court was later informed that CCTV at two locations was not working.