“The District Magistrate Gautam Buddha Nagar is guilty of violating her oath of allegiance,” the Allahabad High Court had observed in the decision. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Wednesday (September 9, 2026) orally indicated the government’s intent to challenge an Allahabad High Court decision to quash an order of the Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate, Medha Roopam, detaining a 25-year-old Delhi University law student under the National Security Act (NSA) over a workers’ protest in Noida in April this year.
Mr. Mehta made a remark to this extent while making an oral mention in connection with a separate case concerning a show-cause notice issued by an Executive Magistrate, Greater Noida Commissionerate, to a student in connection with the NEET-UG paper leaks protests.
A High Court Division Bench headed by Justice Atul Sreedharan had quashed the NSA detention of Akriti Chaudhary in a September 2 order while deriding Ms. Roopam’s lack of application of mind to a police report against the student activist, who had spent nearly five months in custody.
The Bench had allowed Ms. Chaudhary’s habeas corpus petition and ordered her immediate release, unless she was required in another case. The court flagged discrepancies in the arrest notice and termed the State’s version a “concocted story”.
Ms. Chaudhary was among several activists arrested in connection with the protest held between April 10 and 18, during which industrial and contractual workers demanded a hike in salary and parity with wages paid in neighbouring Haryana. The protest had turned violent on April 13..
The Uttar Pradesh Police invoked the NSA against Ms. Chaudhary a month later, alleging that she had instigated protesters to indulge in pelting stones and arson. During a press conference, the police claimed to have “strong electronic and videographic evidence” against her.
The High Court had directed Ms. Chaudhary to be paid compensation of ₹5 lakh, and that the amount be recovered from the salary of the District Magistrate and “all such other officers who may have been responsible, right down to the Station House Officer” of the police station, who had prepared the initial report warranting the detention of the petitioner under the provisions of the NSA.
The Division Bench had said the District Magistrate, by invoking the oppressive provisions of the NSA against a student activist without any previous criminal record, was setting an “example of her and deter others from exercising their right to freedom of speech and expression in public spaces in support of the labourers”.
“The District Magistrate Gautam Buddha Nagar is guilty of violating her oath of allegiance,” the High Court had observed in the decision.
Published – September 09, 2026 04:10 pm IST
