HC quashes NSA invoked against Congress MLA from Varanasi

The Allahabad High Court today quashed an order of the District Magistrate of Varanasi invoking stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Congress MLA Ajay Rai who is in jail since October last year in connection with violence during a procession in protest against lathi charge on a Hindu religious leader. A division bench, comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Naheed Ara Moonis, allowed a petition filed by Rai who had challenged the Varanasi DM's order slapping NSA against him a week after his arrest on October 7. The court also ordered that Rai, who represents Pindra constituency in Uttar Pradesh assembly, be "set at liberty unless wanted in some other case".

Rai was arrested in connection with the violence that had erupted in Varanasi on October 5 during a procession taken out in protest against lathi charge on Hindu religious leader Swami Avimukteswarananda and his supporters when they were trying to immerse idols of Lord Ganesha in the river Ganga on the intervening night of September 22-23.
His lawyer Daya Shankar Mishra had contended before the HC that in his order invoking NSA, the DM of Varanasi had failed to prove that Rai's remaining out of jail could threaten public order and that later on the district administration had failed to provide the MLA with documents he needed to make representations against his own detention.

Rai had fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as Congress candidate from Varanasi, finishing third and losing his deposit in what turned out to be a virtually one-sided contest in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi defeated his nearest rival Arvind Kejriwal by a margin of 3.7 lakh votes.