The Allahabad High Court has quashed the preventive detention of Aakriti Chaudhary, a 25-year-old Delhi University History graduate, under the National Security Act (NSA), holding that the detention was based on what the Court described as a “concocted story” by the State.

A Bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev allowed Aakriti Chaudhary’s habeas corpus petition challenging her detention and directed that she be released immediately, unless her custody was required in any other case.

The accused had been in custody for around five months in connection with the April 2026 workers’ protests in Noida, where workers had demonstrated over wages and working conditions. The protests subsequently turned violent, prompting police action.

The police alleged that the accused had played a major role in the violence. She, however, maintained that she had attended the demonstration as a social worker to express solidarity with the workers and was not an organiser of the protests.

Challenging her detention, her plea argued that the grounds of detention were vague, omnibus, general in nature and devoid of material particulars.

While the High Court has quashed the NSA detention, Accused is expected to remain in custody as she has not yet secured bail in the other cases registered in connection with the Noida workers’ protest.