UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Allahabad HC quashes student’s NSA detention, calls case ‘concocted story’

Q1. Under the National Security Act, 1980, which one of the following correctly states the requirement regarding the Chairman of an Advisory Board constituted under the Act?

  • A. The Chairman is nominated by the Chief Justice of the High Court from among sitting Judges of that Court, and the other members are appointed by the appropriate Government
  • B. The Chairman must be a person who is qualified to be appointed as a Judge of a High Court, and is appointed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in all cases
  • C. The appropriate Government appoints as Chairman one of the members of the Board who is, or has been, a Judge of a High Court
  • D. The Chairman must be a serving District and Sessions Judge of the district in which the detenu ordinarily resides, appointed by the State Government

Q2. Under the National Security Act, 1980, for what maximum period at any one time may a State Government empower a District Magistrate or a Commissioner of Police to exercise the power of making detention orders?

  • A. Fifteen days
  • B. Three months
  • C. Six months
  • D. Twelve months

Q3. Consider the following statements comparing the constitutional scheme of Article 22 with the National Security Act, 1980: 1. Article 22(7) empowers the President to prescribe, by order, the maximum period for which a person may be detained under a preventive detention law. 2. Article 22(4) bars detention beyond three months under any preventive detention law unless an Advisory Board reports sufficient cause before the expiry of that period, whereas the NSA fixes twelve months from the date of detention as the outer limit under a confirmed detention order. 3. Article 22(4) contemplates an Advisory Board of persons who are, have been, or are qualified to be appointed as Judges of a High Court, whereas the NSA requires the Chairman of the Board to be a person who is or has been a Judge of a High Court. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Article 22(7) empowers the President to prescribe, by order, the maximum period for which a person may be detained under a preventive detention law.
  2. Article 22(4) bars detention beyond three months under any preventive detention law unless an Advisory Board reports sufficient cause before the expiry of that period, whereas the NSA fixes twelve months from the date of detention as the outer limit under a confirmed detention order.
  3. Article 22(4) contemplates an Advisory Board of persons who are, have been, or are qualified to be appointed as Judges of a High Court, whereas the NSA requires the Chairman of the Board to be a person who is or has been a Judge of a High Court.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q4. Article 22 draws a sharp line between an ordinary arrestee and a person held under a preventive detention law. Consider the following protections: 1. The right to have the grounds of the order communicated and to make a representation against it 2. The right to be produced before the nearest magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey 3. The right to be produced before an Advisory Board within twenty-four hours of arrest 4. The right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of one's choice Which of the above is/are correctly identified as protections available to an ordinary arrestee but expressly withheld from a person detained under a preventive detention law?

  1. The right to have the grounds of the order communicated and to make a representation against it
  2. The right to be produced before the nearest magistrate within twenty-four hours of arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey
  3. The right to be produced before an Advisory Board within twenty-four hours of arrest
  4. The right to consult, and to be defended by, a legal practitioner of one's choice
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 and 4
  • C. 1, 2 and 4
  • D. 3 and 4 only

Q5. Consider the following descriptions of remedies said to be available in the writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 32 and of the High Courts under Article 226: 1. Quo warranto — calling upon a person to show the authority by which they hold a public office 2. Certiorari — directing an inferior court to transmit the record of a case to a superior court for review of its legality 3. Mandamus — restraining a lower court or tribunal from proceeding in a matter that lies outside its jurisdiction 4. Injunction — one of the writs expressly named in Articles 32 and 226 for restraining a public authority Which of the above is/are NOT correctly identified?

  1. Quo warranto — calling upon a person to show the authority by which they hold a public office
  2. Certiorari — directing an inferior court to transmit the record of a case to a superior court for review of its legality
  3. Mandamus — restraining a lower court or tribunal from proceeding in a matter that lies outside its jurisdiction
  4. Injunction — one of the writs expressly named in Articles 32 and 226 for restraining a public authority
  • A. 1 and 2
  • B. 3 only
  • C. 3 and 4
  • D. 2 and 4

Q6. Which one of the following most accurately describes what a court does when it entertains a petition for the writ of habeas corpus against a detention order?

  • A. It directs the detaining authority to complete the investigation within a fixed period and to release the person if no charge-sheet is filed within that period
  • B. It requires the detaining authority to produce the detained person and to justify the legality of the detention, and may order release if the detention is found unlawful
  • C. It directs the appropriate Government to place the detention order before an Advisory Board, the writ being available only after that statutory remedy is exhausted
  • D. It directs the immediate and unconditional release of any person shown to have been held for more than twenty-four hours without being produced before a magistrate

Q7. In the Allahabad High Court's September 2026 judgment setting aside the detention of a Delhi University graduate arrested after the April 2026 Noida workers' protest, the power the Court struck down was one of 'preventive detention'. This expression is best understood as—

  • A. custody of an accused authorised by a magistrate while the investigation into a cognizable offence against them is still pending
  • B. continued confinement of a convict, ordered by a court after the sentence has run out, on a finding that they are likely to offend again
  • C. custody of a person ordered by a magistrate to secure their presence as a witness whose testimony is likely to become unavailable
  • D. confinement ordered on the subjective satisfaction of an executive authority to pre-empt a future act prejudicial to public order or State security, without trial for any past offence

Q8. With reference to the Allahabad High Court's 2026 order quashing the National Security Act detention of a Delhi University graduate held after the Noida workers' protest, consider the following: 1. The petition allowed by the Division Bench was one seeking the writ of habeas corpus 2. The Court directed the District Magistrate, Noida, to pay the detenu Rs 5 lakh as compensation 3. The NSA detention order was made on the day of her arrest, immediately after the protest turned violent on 13 April 2026 4. The Court described the State's version as a 'concocted story' and ordered her release unless she was required in some other case Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The petition allowed by the Division Bench was one seeking the writ of habeas corpus
  2. The Court directed the District Magistrate, Noida, to pay the detenu Rs 5 lakh as compensation
  3. The NSA detention order was made on the day of her arrest, immediately after the protest turned violent on 13 April 2026
  4. The Court described the State's version as a 'concocted story' and ordered her release unless she was required in some other case
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4
  • D. 1, 3 and 4

Q9. Which one of the following statements about the legal authority underlying India's preventive detention statutes is correct?

  • A. All preventive detention laws in force in India are enacted exclusively by Parliament, preventive detention being a subject on which only the Union can legislate
  • B. The National Security Act, 1980 is administered by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, yet a State Government is also an appropriate Government competent to order detention under it
  • C. A detention order under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 takes effect only after it has in every case received the prior sanction of a Court of Session
  • D. The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 stood repealed in its entirety on the reorganisation of the State, leaving the National Security Act as the only detention law there

Q10. In the working of preventive detention statutes such as the National Security Act, 1980 and COFEPOSA, 1974, the expression 'grounds of detention' is best understood as—

  • A. the specific provisions of the statute under which the order is issued, which have to be recited in the order as served upon the person detained
  • B. the report submitted by the Advisory Board to the appropriate Government recording that there is sufficient cause for the detention to continue
  • C. the basic facts and materials on which the detaining authority's satisfaction rests, communicated so as to enable an effective representation against the order
  • D. the charge-sheet filed by the investigating agency in the criminal case out of which the detention of the person has arisen

Q11. Which one of the following correctly states the number of FIRs registered by the police, and the accompanying action taken, after the Noida industrial workers' protest of April 2026 turned violent?

  • A. Seven FIRs, with more than 300 persons taken into custody
  • B. Seven FIRs, with every person taken into custody being booked under the National Security Act
  • C. Seventeen FIRs, with all industrial units in Noida ordered shut by the police for the duration of the protest
  • D. Three FIRs, with the entire district of Gautam Buddh Nagar placed under an indefinite curfew