Allahabad HC Cancels 94 NSA Cases Lodged By UP Govt, Calls Them Abuse Of Law

The Allahabad High Court has quashed the orders by the Uttar Pradesh government to impose the draconian National Security Act (NSA) in 94 cases, calling it a “misuse of law”. The NSA was imposed by the UP government in 120 cases between January 2018 and December 2020, The Indian Express reported.

A hearing was held in the Allahabad High Court on the 120 cases and apart from the 94 cases, the court also quashed 32 cases given by the District Magistrate and ordered the release of the detainees.

The Express report reveals that most cases that are made under NSA are of cow slaughter, accounting for 41 cases, which is equal to one-third of the total cases reaching the High Court. The persons arrested on the allegation of cow slaughter and slapped with NSA are Muslims in most cases.

In 30 of these cases — more than 70% — the High Court quashed the NSA order and called for the release of the petitioner. Even in the remaining 11 cow-slaughter cases where it upheld detention, except in one, the lower court and the High Court subsequently granted bail to the accused, marking that judicial custody is not required.

In every cow-slaughter case, the DMs reasoned that the need to invoke NSA is that if the accused gets out of jail on bail, he would “again indulge” in activities, they arrested under.

The Express report identifies some key concerns raised by the Courts and revealed some common things imposed by DMs on the accused in each case.

In 11 detention cases, the Court outlined the “non-application of mind” by DM while passing the order. In 13 cases, the Court observed that the accused was denied the opportunity to defend themselves and challenge the NSA slapped on them.

In 13 cases, the Court asserted that these cases drop in the category of simple ‘law and order’ and there was no need to impose the NSA.

In 6 cases, the Court flagged that NSA was invoked based on the solitary case, and the detainee has no criminal history.

The record report by The Indian Express also revealed that the administration has a common playbook of these cases:

In several cases cut and paste in the FIRs can be seen. To be precise, in 9 cases, the NSA was imposed based on information provided to police by an unidentified informer on alleged cow slaughter.

13 arrests were done on the claims that alleged cow slaughter was done in an “open agricultural field”, while nine detention were done on the claims that the act was done in a closed place or within a structure of the four-walled private residence. Five more arrests were done of a belief that slaughter took place outside a shop.

The 41 rulings on the cases related to alleged cow slaughter were delivered by ten two-judge benches of the Allahabad High Court, involving a total of 16 judges.

Apart from this, the FIRs taken into consideration for the investigative reports reveal that the content of the FIRs, the reasons for detention outlined by DMs in NSA orders are identical, in most cases, the terminology used to file these FIRs are verbatim.

In seven detentions alleging cow-slaughter, the NSA order said that “atmosphere of fear and terror has engulfed the whole vicinity.”

In six detentions, the NSA orders used six identical grounds: some “unknown persons” fled from the spot; minutes after the incident, police personnel were “attacked”; due to attack on the police party, “people started running helter-skelter and the situation has become tense”; people “started running to reach to a safe place”; due to the “atmosphere, people are not attending their day to day work”; due to the act of the accused, “peace and tranquility of the area and law and order situation was badly disturbed.”

In two arrests, the NSA orders have identical grounds: “women, in particular, became reluctant to go out of their house and do their routines work”; and that “tempo of life was adversely affected and the public order was shattered”.