The Allahabad High Court has declared the detention of six Muslims under the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district as illegal and revoked charges invoked against them.

The Muslim youths were taken into custody in connection with protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Mau. They were accused of being involved in violence caused by the protests.

The court observed that the rights of the detainees to be informed about the grounds of detention and given the opportunity to make representation – mandatory under Article 22 (5) of the NSA – have not been adhered by the state government.

The six Muslims Amir Shabbir, Shahryar, Abdul Wahab, Asif Chandan, Anas and Faizan who were detained in September 2020 got a clean chit from the High Court.

The double bench of Justices Sadhna Rani and Sunita Agarwal said in the order that detaining authority could not explain the delay in forwarding the representation before the state government and the explanation given by state government was not sufficient.