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High Court Quashes NSA Detention of Noida Activist
Aakriti Chaudhary is a young activist who was jailed after a workers’ protest in Noida.
The government accused her of encouraging violence during the protest.
A court examined the case and said there was not enough evidence to support her detention under the National Security Act.
The court also said the district magistrate did not properly examine the evidence.
It cancelled the special detention order.
The court ordered officials to pay Chaudhary Rs 5 lakh because her rights were violated.
She is still in jail because she faces other criminal cases connected to the protest.
The court said people must be allowed to express support for workers peacefully.
It warned officials not to use powerful laws unfairly against citizens.
The Allahabad High Court quashed the NSA detention of 25-year-old Delhi University graduate Aakriti Chaudhary over the Noida workers’ protest.
The court called District Magistrate Medha Roopam’s conduct “worthy of derision” and said the detention order lacked credible evidence and application of mind.
It ordered Rs 5 lakh compensation for Chaudhary, to be recovered from officials responsible for the detention, including the district magistrate.
The court said authorities failed to produce WhatsApp messages or video evidence showing that Chaudhary incited violence or vandalism.
Chaudhary remains in jail because she faces separate criminal cases linked to the protest, despite the NSA detention being quashed.
- Who
- Aakriti Chaudhary, a 25-year-old Delhi University graduate and activist; District Magistrate Medha Roopam; and the Allahabad High Court.
- What
- The High Court quashed Chaudhary’s preventive detention under the National Security Act and ordered Rs 5 lakh compensation.
- Where
- Gautam Buddha Nagar and Noida, Uttar Pradesh; the case was decided by the Allahabad High Court.
- When
- Chaudhary was detained on April 11; the NSA was invoked about a month later. The court’s ruling was reported as issued or made public on different dates in the articles.
- Why
- The court found the detention order lacked material evidence, was passed without proper application of mind, and violated Chaudhary’s constitutional rights.
Court and Chaudhary’s Position
Police and State Authorities’ Position
Evidence of incitement
Court and Chaudhary’s Position
The court said the record contained allegations but no credible material, WhatsApp messages, or videos proving that Chaudhary incited riots, violence, or property destruction.
Police and State Authorities’ Position
Police alleged that Chaudhary and journalist-activist Satyam Verma provoked people in different areas and were significant in instigating violence, arson, and disorder.
Purpose of the detention
Court and Chaudhary’s Position
The court said the detention appeared intended to make an example of Chaudhary and deter others from supporting labourers or exercising freedom of speech in public spaces.
Police and State Authorities’ Position
Authorities treated the detention as necessary because they alleged that the protest-related activity threatened public order.
Conduct during the protest
Court and Chaudhary’s Position
Witnesses told the publication that police assaulted protesters and women, and the publication’s analysis placed a circulated video at Noida’s Sector 6.
Police and State Authorities’ Position
The Gautam Buddha Nagar police commissionerate denied that the video showed the incident, saying it appeared to be morphed or AI-generated and possibly from another location.
Key facts
- Detention law
- The National Security Act permits preventive detention without trial for up to one year.
- Detention date
- Chaudhary was detained on April 11, according to the articles; the police later claimed April 12 in court proceedings.
- Protest date
- Workers gathered in Noida on April 13 to demand higher salaries.
- Protest attendance
- About 40,000 to 45,000 workers reportedly gathered in parts of the city.
- Compensation
- The court ordered Rs 5 lakh, although Chaudhary had sought Rs 50 lakh.
- Evidence cited by court
- The state could not produce a WhatsApp message or video clip showing Chaudhary inciting violence.
- Current status
- The NSA detention was quashed, but Chaudhary remains jailed in connection with other criminal cases.
Quotes
Allahabad High Court bench comprising Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev
The High Court judges who heard Chaudhary’s challenge to her NSA detention.
“The counsel for the State has not been able to show a single message from the WhatsApp chats between the petitioner and her associates or any video clip which would reveal any incitement from the petitioner, either evidently or by necessary implication, which would disclose that it was the involvement of the petitioner and conspiracy hatched by her that resulted in the violence…”
theprint.in
“Preventing people from gathering in public spaces or agitating their rights on the grounds of assumed breach of peace, would be throwing the baby out of the bath water. If such a view is taken by the State and approved of by the courts, it would lead to a cessation of the collective expression of opinion in public spaces.”
theprint.in
Gautam Buddha Nagar police commissionerate
The district police authority responding to a video showing alleged assaults on women protesters
“prima facie, the video appears to be morphed or AI-generated and does not seem to be from Noida, but rather from some other location.”
scroll.in
Sources
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