Noida workers’ protest: SC stays Allahabad HC order quashing NSA detention of activist

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Allahabad High Court order that had quashed the National Security Act detention of a 25-year-old Delhi University graduate after the workers’ protest in Noida, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and NK Singh also set aside the High Court’s direction to Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation from her salary to Akriti Chaudhary.

The video recording of the proceedings was muted by the court, and media access was blocked, reported Live Law.

On September 2, the High Court said that the compensation should be deducted from the salary of Roopam, who had passed the order to detain Chaudhary, and other officials responsible for enforcing it.

The detention order against Chaudhary was devoid of material evidence and was passed “without application of mind”, the High Court bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev had said.

Chaudhary has been in jail for more than five months. She had been detained on April 11, two days before the protest in Noida turned violent, her family stated. In May, the Uttar Pradesh Police invoked the National Security Act against her while she was in custody.

The Act allows for long periods of detention without trial up to a year.

Despite her detention under the Act being quashed, she...

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