New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed the Allahabad high court’s order directing that Rs 5 lakh compensation be paid to student activist Akriti Chaudhary from the salary of Noida district magistrate Medha Roopam for her detention under the National Security Act in the aftermath of the protest by Noida workers for a slight hike in their wages.A bench of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice N.K. Singh said these as it passed an interim stay order on two petitions filed by Roopam and the Uttar Pradesh government.The Supreme Court also notably muted the audio of the proceedings and blocked media access to the video feed.“After hearing learned Senior Counsels for the parties, this Court is of the opinion that till the matter is heard on merits, the operation of the impugned judgment, particularly, para Nos. 27 to 33 shall remain stayed,” the bench said.Paragraph 27-33 of the Allahabad high court’s judgment had contained strong words against the DM and the direction to pay compensation.For a day, there was significant confusion as to whether the court has also quashed Chaudhary’s detention or simply the part of the judgement asking for the compensation.In a revised order issued on September 24, the Supreme Court clarified that only the portion of the high court order related to compensation was stayed. “This Court is of the opinion that till the matter is heard on merits, the operation of paras nos. 27 to 33 of the impugned judgment including award of costs and strictures against the petitioner shall remain stayed.”Roopam had also signed the order to incarcerate journalist Satyam Verma in the case.Roopam is, incidentally, the daughter of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar who himself is in the news today after explosive revelations on how two Election Commissioners formally disagreed with him on multiple occasions in the past 10 months.The court order was lauded by legal veterans and had offered a word of caution to the bureaucracy and the police against “casual and cavalier exercise of authority”.Note: This report has been updated with news on the Supreme Court’s revised order.