Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court raised sharp questions over the inclusion of the term 'Andolanjeevi' in the grounds of detention issued under the National Security Act (NSA) against journalist Satyam Verma. A division bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Achal Sachdev questioned how a politically charged colloquialism found its way into a formal legal order issued by Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam. Justice Sreedharan specifically asked state counsel where the term originated and how it was permitted inside an official government document detailing preventive detention grounds.

Arguments Over Copied Social Media Content

During the hearing on Verma’s habeas corpus petition, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the journalist, argued that the detention order was an unverified, verbatim reproduction of a social media thread posted on X (formerly Twitter). The counsel stated that local authorities copied the online thread to frame grounds connecting a local minimum-wage labour dispute in Noida to unrelated national and international political protests. The bench expressed concern over whether holding a specific ideology or possessing activist literature could legitimately constitute grounds for preventive detention without evidence of specific illegal acts.

Judgment Reserved on Habeas Corpus Petition

Satyam Verma was initially detained under the NSA in May 2026 following a workers' protest in April. His legal team emphasised that the state failed to establish how his reporting or presence created a threat to public order severe enough to warrant extraordinary preventive detention measures. After hearing arguments from both sides regarding the procedural validity and wording of the detention grounds, the bench reserved its judgment on the habeas corpus plea seeking Verma’s immediate release.