UP to challenge HC order cancelling Delhi University student's NSA detention

The Uttar Pradesh government will challenge the Allahabad High Court order cancelling Aakriti Chaudhary's NSA detention and direction to pay her Rs 5 lakh compensation.

In Short

• HC slams NSA detention, calls officials' conduct 'worthy of derision'
• Warns against arbitrary power, cites risk of 'Orwellian Dystopia'
• UP govt to challenge order on Delhi student's NSA detention in SC

The Uttar Pradesh government will challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court's decision to cancel detention of Delhi University graduate and student activist Aakriti Chaudhary under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) in connection with a recent workers' protest in Noida.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant on Wednesday that the High Court's ruling, which strongly rebuked the detention and pulled up the officials, will be challenged.

The Allahabad High Court, on September 2, set aside Chaudhary's NSA detention and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay her Rs 5 lakh compensation. The court further ordered that the amount be recovered from the salary of Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam and other officers found responsible for the proceedings that led to the student's detention.

On Wednesday, the issue came up before the Supreme Court while the Solicitor General was clarifying a separate matter involving a student who had received a notice from an executive magistrate in Greater Noida over participation in a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protest at Jantar Mantar.

During the proceedings, the court referred to the recent Allahabad High Court ruling involving Chaudhary and noted that the High Court had cancelled her detention and awarded compensation.

Mehta responded by saying, "That we are challenging."

ALLAHABAD HC'S STRONG REBUKE

The Allahabad High Court had delivered a strongly worded ruling while cancelling Chaudhary's detention under the NSA, which shall be used when the authorities believe that an individual's actions could threaten national security and public order.

A bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev, while examining Chaudhary's habeas corpus petition, found no credible material demonstrating that she had instigated protesters to engage in rioting, arson or damage to public and private property.

The court criticised the manner in which the detention order was passed by the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration and described the conduct of the District Magistrate as "worthy of derision".

The court held that the District Magistrate was expected to scrutinise the police report and supporting material carefully before invoking the stringent preventive detention law.

The High Court also directed that its displeasure with the District Magistrate and police officers involved in preparing the NSA dossier be recorded in their service records.

Apart from cancelling the NSA detention, the High Court had ordered Rs 5 lakh compensation for Chaudhary.

The compensation order and the findings against the district administration are also part of the ruling that the Uttar Pradesh government now intends to challenge before the Supreme Court.

HC WARNS OF 'ORWELLIAN DYSTOPIA'

The Allahabad High Court went beyond the immediate question of Chaudhary’s detention and made strong observations about the exercise of power by the bureaucracy and police. It said IAS and IPS officers must remember that their loyalty is to the Constitution and not to the political executive.

The court warned that continued arbitrary exercise of power by officials could reduce Uttar Pradesh to an "Orwellian Dystopia" and described the unchecked exercise of administrative power as a threat to constitutional rights and civil liberties.

The court also observed that government officials are entrusted with considerable powers because they have a responsibility to protect the constitutional and legal rights, dignity and welfare of citizens.

AAKRITI CHAUDHARY REMAINS IN CUSTODY

Aakriti Chaudhary was arrested in connection with cases arising from the Noida workers' protest in April. The Uttar Pradesh Police subsequently invoked the NSA against her and activist-journalist Satyam Verma on May 13.

Although the High Court cancelled her NSA detention, Chaudhary’s release is not necessarily automatic because she continues to face other criminal cases arising from the Noida workers' protest.

The High Court had directed her release if she was not required in any other case.

The UP government's proposed appeal will now take the dispute over the legality of the NSA detention, the High Court's findings against the administration and the Rs 5 lakh compensation order to the Supreme Court.

- Ends