SC quashes NSA detention in Sambhal case, fines UP Rs 10 lakh

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the preventive detention of Mulla Afroz under the National Security Act (NSA), a key accused in the November 2024 Sambhal violence. A bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta quashed the detention and imposed a Rs 10 lakh cost on the Uttar Pradesh government, calling the detention order illegal. The court held that a preventive detention order cannot be based solely on a confession allegedly made in police custody, as such confessions are ordinarily inadmissible. The court emphasised that preventive detention is intended to avert future threats, not to punish for past acts.

Afroz had challenged his detention after the Allahabad High Court upheld it in June 2026. He argued that his arrest relied on a custodial confession and that the police firing during the violence had not been investigated. The Uttar Pradesh government had defended the detention, citing public order concerns. The violence erupted in Sambhal during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in November 2024, leaving four people dead. The court's ruling clarifies the legal limits on using police custody confessions to justify NSA detention.