Noida Workers' Protest: Allahabad HC Quashes NSA Detention of Aakriti Chaudhary, Orders Rs 5 Lakh Compensation
New Delhi: The Allahabad high court on Wednesday (September 2) quashed the preventive detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) of Aakriti Chaudhary, a Delhi University history graduate. The court ordered a Rs 5 lakh compensation to her. The sum is to be recovered from the salaries of officials involved in the legal actions taken against her.
A two-judge bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev passed the order after hearing a habeas corpus petition challenging Chaudhary's detention.
Chaudhary will remain in custody as she is yet to secure bail in other cases slapped on her in connection with the workers' protest for better wages and work conditions in the Noida industrial township of Uttar Pradesh.
Aakriti’s father Arun Chaudhary told The Wire he was happy and relieved after the high court’s decision. He said he had always expected such an outcome, as his daughter was innocent.
“We already knew that she had never done anything wrong, and we knew that this was bound to happen. It was a little delayed, but it happened. I am very happy and relieved now," he said.
State couldn't produce video of alleged incident
Chaudhary was present in court during the hearing. Describing the hearing, he said the court repeatedly asked the state's advocate to produce evidence showing Aakriti had engaged in any violence; whether she had assaulted anyone, pelted stones or even instigated protesters to commit violence. He said the court even asked whether there was any WhatsApp chat in which Aakriti had made a statement related to such acts.
The state responded to the court's queries that it had a video of the incident. The court asked the government during Tuesday's hearing to produce that video at 10 am the following morning (Wednesday, September 2). The court said that if the video was not produced, officials would be expected to compensate Aakriti.
Chaudhary said that the state was unable to produce the video on Wednesday, following which the compensation of Rs 5 lakh was ordered. This amount would be recovered from the salaries of district officials ranging from the district magistrate to the station house officer (SHO) at the police station where the case was filed and investigated.
Aakriti's father said she has secured bail from the sessions court in five of the 11 cases registered against her, leaving six bail applications pending. The family will now move the high court to hear all six cases.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves was repesenting Aakriti in the NSA case. Advocate Rajneesh Yadav was Aakriti’s counsel before the sessions court at Surajpur in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Following the workers' demonstrations for fair wages and decent working conditions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh had been forced to order higher wages in keeping with the law. The workers' protests were unrelenting despite a severe police crackdown, which continued after the protests had ended.
Aakriti had attended a demonstration to express solidarity with the workers. But the police charged her with playing a role in the violence that broke out during the protest.
Court orders 5 lakh compensation, officials to pay
Manik Gupta, one of Aakriti's lawyers in the NSA case, explained why the court directed that Rs 5 lakh in compensation be recovered from the salaries of the SHO up to the district magistrate. He said that while the SHO made the initial recommendation for invoking the NSA, the DM passed the preventive-detention order against Aakriti.
Notably, Gautam Buddh Nagar DM Medha Roopam's father is the chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The Rs 5 lakh compensation is to be recovered from her salary as well as that of other officers.
Advocate Gupta said there was “absolutely nothing” in the evidence presented in court by the prosecution to show that Aakriti instigated anyone or that she needed to be kept in preventive detention under the NSA.
He said the state had told the court that the violence took place on May 13, while admitting that Aakriti had been arrested on May 11. He said that after 5:30 pm on May 11, messages were being sent to Aakriti but she did not respond, which, according to the defence, was because police had already taken her into custody.
Gupta said that the court on Wednesday made observations regarding the right to protest, primarily that protests are integral to democracy and that a student’s record and background must be considered before invoking preventive detention. The court, he said, also observed that if violence occurs during a protest, that does not mean that anyone can simply be arrested and subjected to preventive detention.
On the state's allegation that Aakriti had previously used the same "strategy" in Manesar, her defence was that she was not implicated in that case at all, and therefore it was irrelevant to the Noida protests.
Gupta also said that the defence’s principal submissions were that Aakriti had been illegally arrested, that there had been no proper application of mind in applying sections of the NSA and other charges against her, and that the order under the NSA was vague and omnibus, with no material basis to justify her detention.
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