India: CASR Press Statement Condemns Repression Against Satyam Verma and Aakriti Chaudhary
We hereby share the press statement by the Campaign Against State Repression published on the 17th of May on its Facebook webpage.
Date – 17 May, 2026
Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) strongly condemns the Uttar Pradesh Police’s use of the draconian National Security Act (NSA) against senior journalist Satyam Verma and student activist Aakriti Chaudhary in connection with the Noida workers’ protest case.
The invocation of the NSA more than a month after their arrests clearly demonstrates an attempt to prevent their release despite the lack of any credible evidence against them. This extraordinary and repressive step comes immediately after bail proceedings exposed the weakness of the prosecution’s case.
The NSA has long been criticised for enabling arbitrary detention and for being routinely misused against dissenters, activists, and marginalised communities. In practice, the law allows prolonged incarceration without trial and grants sweeping powers to the police while bypassing basic democratic safeguards. Low conviction rates in NSA cases across the country reveal how the process itself becomes punishment.
Over the years, draconian laws such as the UAPA, PSA, NSA and AFSPA have repeatedly been used against activists, journalists, students, human rights defenders and political organisers who work among marginalised communities and raise democratic demands. Across the country, those fighting for workers’ rights, Adivasi rights, minority rights, land rights and civil liberties continue to face surveillance, arbitrary arrests, prolonged incarceration and state repression. These laws have increasingly become instruments to suppress dissent and intimidate democratic movements rather than ensure justice or security.
This case is also another example of the growing pattern of “conspiracy cases” being constructed to criminalise democratic activism. Similar to the Bhima Koregaon case, the Delhi riots conspiracy cases and the Lucknow conspiracy case, the state has sought to implicate activists from across India through exaggerated allegations, fabricated narratives and sweeping charges meant to justify prolonged imprisonment. Such cases reveal a broader attempt to silence critical voices and dismantle democratic resistance by branding activists and people’s movements as threats to national security.
Satyam Verma and Aakriti Chaudhary are being targeted for standing in solidarity with workers and supporting democratic rights. Instead of conducting an impartial investigation into the events surrounding the Noida workers’ protest, the UP Police has intensified repression against activists and voices supporting labour struggles.
CASR views the use of the NSA in this case as part of a broader attempt to criminalise democratic dissent and intimidate those who support workers’ movements and people’s struggles.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of the NSA charges and the release of all those falsely implicated in the Noida workers’ protest case.
Campaign Against State Repression
AIRSO, AISF, APCR, ASA, BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM, CEM, Collective, CRPP, CSM, CTF, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Forum Against Repression Telangana, Fraternity Movement, IAPL, Innocence Network, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, NAPM, Nazariya Magazine, Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Samajwadi Lok Manch, Bahujan Samajwadi Manch, United Peace Alliance, WSS, Y4S
