Supreme Court quashes NSA detention of Sambhal violence accused, slaps ₹10 lakh costs on U.P. govt.

A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu set aside the October 2025 detention order passed by the Sambhal District Magistrate. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 29, 2026) quashed a preventive detention order passed under the National Security Act (NSA) against a man in connection with the November 2024 Sambhal violence, holding that the power of detention had been “illegally exercised”. It also imposed costs of ₹10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government.A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu set aside the October 2025 detention order passed by the Sambhal District Magistrate, finding that the authorities had failed to consider relevant material before depriving the detenue of his liberty. The court also held that a confessional statement relied upon by the authorities could not, by itself, justify preventive detention.“The power of detention was illegally exercised by the authorities. The detaining authorities did not consider the appropriate material. The order of detention issued on October 13, 2025, is quashed, and a cost of ₹10 lakh is imposed on the State,” the Bench said while pronouncing the operative portion of the ruling in open court.The ruling came on a petition filed by Mulla Afroz, who was arrested in connection with the violence that broke out during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on November 24, 2024. Four people were killed in the clashes.The survey had been ordered by a Sambhal civil court on November 19, 2024, while hearing a suit instituted by Hindu petitioners who claimed that the mosque had been constructed over a temple.Advocate Divyesh Pratap Singh, appearing for Mr. Afroz, told the top court that his client was taken into custody on January 17, 2025, and coerced into making a confession under threat of being killed in a staged encounter. He contended that the police case against Mr. Afroz rested solely on the alleged custodial confession and the purported recovery, at his instance, of a .32-bore pistol.Mr. Singh further submitted, citing the forensic report, that the person Mr. Afroz was accused of murdering had sustained fatal injuries from a .315-bore firearm, rather than the .32-bore weapon allegedly recovered at his instance.While Mr. Afroz remained in custody, the Sambhal District Magistrate invoked Section 3(2) of the National Security Act, 1980, and ordered his preventive detention on October 13, 2025. His subsequent representations to the State and Central governments were rejected.The Uttar Pradesh government confirmed the detention order on November 8, 2025, directing that Mr. Afroz remain in preventive detention until October 12, 2026.Mr. Afroz thereafter moved the Allahabad High Court through a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. The High Court dismissed his plea on June 8, 2026, following which he approached the Supreme Court. Published - September 29, 2026 01:28 pm IST