The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to record judicial displeasure in the official service dossier of a District Magistrate after finding that extraordinary powers under the National Security Act were improperly invoked against university student Akriti Chaudhary.
A division bench comprising Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Manish Kumar quashed the preventive detention order, holding that the administration had displayed a complete absence of application of mind. Chaudhary had been detained following student demonstrations regarding fee hikes and campus accommodation shortages, which the district magistrate had classified as a threat to public order and state security.
The court observed that routine student agitations and campus speech cannot be conflated with actions prejudicial to the defense of India or the maintenance of public order under preventive detention statutes. The judges emphasized that depriving a citizen of personal liberty without trial demands scrupulous adherence to constitutional safeguards under Article 22 of the Constitution.
Ordering Chaudhary’s immediate release from administrative confinement, the bench mandated that a certified copy of the judgment be placed before the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh. The state government was directed to instruct all district magistrates against utilizing draconian administrative detention laws to stifle democratic campus dissent.
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Sources:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/today-india-breaking-news-live-updates-8-september-2026-brs-mlcs-arrested-telangana-speaker-satya-niketan-delhi-hc-manipuri-musician-10867924/