Supreme Court Stays Allahabad HC Order Against Noida DM Medha Roopam

The Supreme Court on Wednesday partly stayed an Allahabad High Court order which reprimanded Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam for ordering detention of Akriti Chaudhary, a History graduate from Delhi University, under the National Security Act (NSA) [Medha Roopam v. Akriti Chaudhary & Ors.]. A Bench of Justices Satish Chandra Sharma and NK Singh also stayed the High Court's directive asking Roopam to pay ₹5 lakh compensation to Chaudhary from her salary. Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice NK SinghThe matter is tied to the detention of student Akriti Chaudhary in connection with industrial workers' protests that took place in April at Noida.On September 2, a Division Bench of Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev of Allahabad High Court had quashed Chaudhary's detention under NSA and directed the payment of ₹5 lakh as compensation to her.The amount was ordered to be recovered from the District Magistrate's salary and all such officers responsible for preparing the report leading to Chaudhary's detention under NSA.The High Court had said that when the police report against Chaudhary lacked any credible material, and that the officer was expected to be vigilant and examine the records threadbare before resorting to the "oppressive provisions" of the NSA. It added that Roopam's conduct in the case was worthy of derision.In the same ruling, the High Court also reminded Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) o