Allahabad High Court’s order quashing the order issued by a district magistrate in Uttar Pradesh to detain a Delhi University student under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) in connection with a workers’ protest has been challenged in Supreme Court of India by the state government.
The district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, Medha Roopam, who had passed the NSA order to detain 25-year-old student activist Akriti Chaudhary in May and drew strictures from the high court on September 2, has moved the apex court with the support of Uttar Pradesh government, according to reports.
Also read: Activist Sonam Wangchuk warns of a fresh agitation in Ladakh from September 19 to 24
Akriti Chaudhary, a history graduate from Delhi University, was arrested in connection with an industrial workers’ protest in Noida, in April. Uttar Pradesh Police invoked the National Security Act, 1980, against her and activist-journalist Satyam Verma on May 13 after DM Medha Roopam approved the step. Chaudhary and Verma were among several activists arrested in cases relating to the workers’ peaceful protest seeking higher wages.
On September 2, Allahabad High Court quashed Chaudhary’s detention under NSA, labelling it completely illegal and observing that there was a total “lack of application of mind” by the DM regarding the police report.
Also read: Every woman needs to learn the art of self-advocacy and have the power to say, ‘No’
In its 15-page order, the HC bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev criticised Roopam’s conduct as “worthy of derision” and warned that such despotic actions could turn the state into an “Orwellian dystopia”.
The HC also ordered that Akriti Chaudhary be paid Rs 5 lakh as compensation and that the amount be recovered from the salary of the DM and other officers—”right down to the SHO”—who were responsible. Reiterating that “with great power comes great responsibility”, the HC urged the bureaucracy to introspect about the extent to which such power was being exercised.
Also read: Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, jailed for raping 2 women, released on furlough, his 17th in 9 years
The HC’s order said the material available in the whole case “reveals that the District Magistrate desired to set an example out of the Petitioner and deter others from exercising their right to freedom of speech and expression in public spaces in support of the labourers”.
“They (IAS and IPS officers) should realise that their loyalty is towards the Constitution and not the political executive, and the honesty and impartiality are towards the people whom they serve while bearing in mind at all times that they are the servants who serve the people, the masters in a democracy,” said the HC order.
