The Allahabad High Court quashed the preventive detention under the National Security Act of a 25-year-old Delhi University graduate who has been in jail for nearly five months in connection with the workers’ protest in Noida in April, reported Bar and Bench on Wednesday.The Act allows for long periods of detention without trial up to a year.On Tuesday, a bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev held that Aakriti Chaudhary was detained based on a “concocted story” by the Uttar Pradesh government, reported Live Law.The bench also directed the Noida authorities to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to Chaudhary, Bar and Bench quoted advocate Charlie Prakash as saying.Chaudhary will remain in jail as she is yet to secure bail in other cases registered in connection with the protests, reported the legal news outlet.On April 13, about 40,000 to 45,000 workers from several industrial units had gathered in parts of the city to press long-standing demands that their salaries be increased. The protests came amid increasing gas prices because of the supply disruption caused by the war in West Asia.The demonstration had turned violent, with videos widely shared on social media showing some protesters throwing stones and vandalising property.On April 14, more than 350 persons had been arrested in connection with the violence.A month later, the Uttar Pradesh police booked Chaudhary and 60-year-old Satya Verma under the National Security Act.Verma is a former journalist from Lucknow and Chaudhary, a history graduate, is from Durgapur in West Bengal. The two are members of the Mazdoor Bigul Dasta, a workers’ organisation.The police had alleged that the role played by the two was “significant in instigating violence, arson and creating chaos” during the protest. It also claimed that Verma and Chaudhary “provoked” persons in different areas to “disturb public order”.Chaudhary’s family had claimed that she had been picked up by the police from a metro station in Noida on April 11. Her father, Arun Chaudhary, had asked how a person who had been picked up on April 11 could be charged with violence that took place on April 13.Violence during protestsWitnesses had alleged that the police personnel deployed to contain the violence on April 13 had beaten up the protesters.On April 16, a video surfaced online showing police personnel assaulting women. The video was shared on social media platforms by several users, including the Uttar Pradesh Congress, who alleged that it showed police personnel in Noida lathi-charging and manhandling women workers on the day of wage hike protests.The police commissionerate in Gautam Buddha Nagar district denied this. It said that “prima facie, the video appears to be morphed or AI-generated and does not seem to be from Noida, but rather from some other location.”However, eyewitnesses, who did not want to be identified because of the fear of facing backlash from the authorities, told Scroll that the video accurately captured the scene they had witnessed.Scroll also used geolocation analysis and matched the video against a press photo to establish that the location was indeed Block A and Block B of Noida’s Sector 6. Scroll visited the spot and spoke to several people who had seen the police assault. Questions sent to Commissioner of Police Laxmi Singh at the time did not receive a response.Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.Also read:Noida and beyond: India’s workers are being shortchanged. They deserve a fair dealFact check: Despite official denial, viral video showing police beating women workers is from Noida