'Orwellian dystopia': Allahabad HC reprimands Noida DM over DU student's NSA detention during Noida workers protest

Allahabad High Court came down heavily on Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam last week while quashing the detention of a Delhi University student and called her conduct “despotic”.Akriti Chaudhary was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and the order of detention was passed by Noida DM Medha Roopam. (X/@MedhaRoopam)On Wednesday last week, the Allahabad high court quashed the detention order against a 25-year-old Delhi University graduate Akriti Chaudhary who has been in judicial custody for around five months in connection with the Noida workers’ protest of April 2026, saying her detention was based on a “concocted story”.Chaudhary was detained under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) and the order of detention was passed by Roopam.Also read: ‘Concocted story’: Allahabad HC quashes DU grad’s NSA detention over Noida workers’ protestWhile quashing the move, the bench of justice Atul Sreedharan and justice Achal Sachdev made a reference to English writer George Orwell, who is well-known for his dystopian novel ‘1984’ and his allegorical novella ‘Animal Farm’.The court said that “it shan't be long before the errant in the bureaucracy reduce the State of Uttar Pradesh to an Orwellian Dystopia”, reported Live Law.It also said that when bureaucrats and cops go against their oath, they may be viewed as an “oppressive vestige of the British Empire”.The bench also ordered immediate release of Chaudhary and awarded her a compensation of ₹5 lakh and directed that it must be recovered from the salaries of the district magistrate to every officer responsible “right down to the SHO”.The court observed that the police report only contained allegations against Chaudhary and it was on the district magistrate to examine the record 'threadbare' and see if the case warranted stringent action such as the NSA.“The conduct of the District Magistrate Gautam Buddha Nagar who passed the impugned order, is worthy of derision,” the court said, adding that Roopam "desired to set an example" out of Chaudhary to deter others from protesting or supporting the protesting workers.The state counsel had told the judges that Chaudhary was arrested on the morning of April 12, 2026, on charges of instigating the mob to resort to arson and stone-pelting. The Uttar Pradesh Police subsequently invoked the National Security Act (NSA), 1980 against Chaudhary.To this, the judges said that a proper notice under Section 126 of the BNSS had not been served on the petitioner before her arrest.Earlier on Tuesday, September 1, the high court had directed the state government to produce footage showing whether Chaudhary had instigated protesters to engage in stone-pelting or set vehicles ablaze. The state sought additional time to submit the footage, but the bench refused, pointing out that Chaudhary had already spent five months in jail.