Allahabad HC strikes down NSA detention of activist after Noida protest

The Allahabad High Court has set aside the preventive detention of Aakriti Chaudhary under the National Security Act (NSA), which followed a workers' protest in Noida. The ruling came on a habeas corpus petition filed by Chaudhary challenging her arrest and continued custody.

A division bench comprising Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev allowed the petition, holding that the detention order was premised on a narrative that the State had effectively fabricated. The court found the grounds cited for invoking the stringent NSA to be unsustainable.

The decision marks a significant judicial rebuke to the administrative action, underscoring that preventive detention powers cannot be exercised on the basis of a version of events that the court described as 'concocted'. The bench's observation points to a failure on the part of authorities to establish a credible case for the extraordinary measure.

With the quashing of the detention order, Chaudhary's legal challenge has succeeded, and the court's order clears the way for her release from custody. The judgment reiterates the constitutional safeguards available to individuals against arbitrary state action, particularly where liberty is curtailed without trial under preventive detention laws.