94 out of 120 orders quashed: Allahabad High Court calls out abuse of NSA in Uttar Pradesh
Police FIRs that cut and paste key details across different locations; detention orders signed by District Magistrates that show “non-application of mind”; denial of due process to the accused; repeated use of the law to block bail – in case after case, the Allahabad High Court has red-flagged the way the UP government has used the draconian National Security Act (NSA) which gives the state powers to arrest without formal charge or trial.
An investigation by The Indian Express of police and court records reveals a telling pattern. Between January 2018 and December 2020, the Allahabad High Court ruled in 120 habeas corpus petitions challenging preventive detention under the NSA. In 94 detentions, it quashed orders of DMs in as many as 32 districts and ordered the release of the detainees.
Cow slaughter, records show, is Category Number One when it comes to invoking NSA: it accounts for 41 cases, more than a third of the total that reached the High Court….
