Arunachal: Court quashes NSA detention of youth leader, orders immediate release

The Itanagar Permanent Bench of the Gauhati High Court, Yupia, has quashed the detention order of Ngwazosa Yobin, a prominent youth leader from Vijaynagar in Changlang district, who had been held under the National Security Act (NSA). The court's order, dated December 21 and referenced as WP(C)12 (AP)/2023, mandates the immediate release of Yobin from the Changlang sub-jail.

The detention order, dated August 30, had accused Yobin of orchestrating a meeting on June 4, 2023, at Gandhigram, where he allegedly incited individuals to vandalize forest department infrastructure on the Miao-Vijaynagar road on June 5, 2023. On that day, a group of approximately 100-140 men and women had set fire to various structures belonging to the Namdapha National Park & Tiger Reserve at 40th Miles.

Yobin faced charges of intimidating the state government and the national park authority on multiple occasions, particularly concerning the boundary demarcation of Namdapha National Park. Asserting the area as ancestral land of the Yobin community, he had reportedly threatened similar actions against any government facilities established within the park.

The youth leader was initially arrested on June 12 by the Miao police on charges including sections 120 (B), 447, 427, 392, 186, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. Although he secured bail on August 30, he was subsequently detained under the NSA on the same day.

The Gauhati High Court, in its order, highlighted that the decision to impugn the August 30 detention order was based on the lack of a "live link or nexus" between Yobin's activities, including past actions, and the immediate necessity for his detention under the NSA. The court asserted that the activities attributed to Yobin did not appear to prejudicially affect the security of the state or the maintenance of public order, characterizing them instead as issues of 'law and order' that could be adequately addressed within the existing legal framework.