Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Rupam has approached the Supreme Court against an Allahabad High Court order directing her and other responsible officials to pay Rs 5 lakh in compensation to student Aakriti Chaudhary over her detention under the National Security Act during a workers’ protest in Noida.
The petition challenges the High Court’s decision to cancel Chaudhary’s detention and direct that the compensation be recovered from the salaries of the district magistrate and the concerned police station in-charge, according to a report by Live Hindustan – NCR. The supplied report does not provide details of the Supreme Court case number, hearing date or any interim order.
The matter originated in April, when Chaudhary, a 25-year-old history graduate from Delhi University, was detained under the National Security Act in connection with a workers’ protest in Noida. She later challenged the detention through a habeas corpus petition before the Allahabad High Court.
On September 2, the High Court allowed the petition and cancelled the detention. The court criticised the process followed in the detention order issued by Rupam and described the detention as arbitrary, according to the report. It also said the state government’s case against Chaudhary was based on what it called a fabricated narrative.
The High Court directed that Chaudhary be paid Rs 5 lakh in compensation. It further ordered that the amount be recovered from the salaries of Rupam and other officials considered responsible for the detention, including the station house officer. The court also said Chaudhary should be released immediately if she was not required in any other case.
The order placed individual administrative responsibility at the centre of a detention dispute. Rather than treating compensation only as a liability of the state, the direction sought recovery from the salaries of officials involved in the decision-making process. The report does not specify whether the recovery order has been implemented or stayed.
The High Court also warned that an arbitrary bureaucratic approach that weakens citizens’ rights could push Uttar Pradesh towards what it described as an “Orwellian dystopia”. The phrase was used while criticising the manner in which the detention order had been issued and defended.
The case has wider relevance for district-level administration because preventive detention powers are exercised through a chain involving the district magistrate, police authorities and the state government. The dispute now before the Supreme Court concerns both the legality of Chaudhary’s detention and the financial accountability imposed on officials after the High Court found the detention unsustainable.
The report said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had earlier indicated that an appeal would be filed in the Supreme Court against the High Court’s decision cancelling Chaudhary’s detention under the National Security Act. Rupam’s petition is the reported next step in that challenge. Further developments will depend on the Supreme Court’s consideration of the petition and any directions issued on the compensation and salary-recovery orders.
