The Supreme Court on Wednesday muted the hearing and closed VC access after hearing the matter before reserving its order on a plea by Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam against an Allahabad High Court order directing the recovery of Rs 5 lakh from officers involved in the detention of a Delhi University student under the National Security Act (NSA) during a workers’ protest in Noida.
The Rs 5 lakh compensation was ordered to be recovered from all officers involved in preparing the case, including District Magistrate Medha Roopam and the Station House Officer (SHO) who prepared the initial report.
On September 2, the Allahabad High Court set aside Chaudhry’s NSA detention and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to pay her compensation of 5 lakh. Further, the court ordered Rs. 5 lakh compensation to her, which is to be recovered from the salaries of officials involved in the legal actions against her.
The case came up before the Supreme Court during the clarification by the Solicitor General on a separate matter that involved a student receiving a notice from an executive magistrate in Greater Noida over his participation in a protest led by the Cockroach Janta Party at Jantar Mantar.
Roopam approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court order, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing on her behalf.
“I represent the DM, Noida. Without notice to her, some strictures are passed, and a cost of 5 lakhs is imposed,” Mehta said.
He further said that the District Magistrate’s role in issuing a detention order is different from the court’s later review of that detention, FoEJ Media learned.
“It’s one thing to quash the order of detention and another to castigate the officer who has passed the order,” Mehta said.
Meantime, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohtagi, who appeared for the state, described the Allahabad High Court order as “completely uncalled for,” claiming that the Chaudhary had first been involved in Manesar and after that in Noida, where roads were blocked with the incident of arson and stone pelting.
“She is arrested on the 12th of April. A proposal for detention under NSA has to be moved from the SHO level. Finally the DM issues. It has to be affirmed by an advisory authority headed by a judge. Then the state and central govt. confirm. She is just one person in the chain,” Rohatgi said as highlighted by the India Today.
The Allahabad High Court on September 2 quashed the National Security Act invoked against Akriti Choudhry in the Noida workers’ protest case. A Bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev noted that the grounds for Akriti’s detention under NSA did not contain a “single shred of evidence” against her. The court has ordered Rs 5 lakh compensation to her to be recovered from the salaries of officials involved in the legal actions taken against her.
A 25-year-old Delhi University graduate, Akriti Choudhry, hailing from Durgapur in West Bengal. Choudhry, a history graduate from DU, theatre artist, and activist, was allegedly abducted by male policemen in plain clothes from the Botanical Garden Metro Station on the night of 11 April, FoEJ Media has learnt.
