Allahabad HC quashes NSA detention, citing lack of evidence and procedural flaws

The Allahabad High Court quashed the detention of Akriti Chaudhary under the National Security Act (NSA), finding that the grounds for her detention were based on conjecture and that procedural requirements for her arrest were not met. This matters to citizens as it establishes that preventive detention cannot be justified by subjective satisfaction without concrete evidence and proper legal procedure.

Akriti Chaudhary (Petitioner/Detainee), Union of India, State of Uttar Pradesh, and the public regarding the application of the National Security Act and procedural safeguards in arrests.

• The Court quashed the NSA detention order against Akriti Chaudhary.
• The Court held that 'subjective satisfaction' for detention cannot rest on conjecture.
• The Court found that the notice under Section 130 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was prepared after the arrest, rendering the procedure a 'sham' and 'ex post facto'.
• The Court noted that the General Diary (GD) entry number mentioned in the Section 130 notice was generated at the time of arrest, indicating the notice was fabricated after the fact.
• The Court observed that the violence alleged to have been incited by the petitioner occurred on 13.04.2026, whereas the petitioner was in custody from 12.04.2026 (or 11.04.2026 per her claim), making the attribution of subsequent violence to her pre-arrest actions a matter of conjecture.
• The Court noted that the petitioner's mobile phone was recovered 13 days after her arrest, from which WhatsApp chats were extracted to justify detention.

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