Supreme Court Quashes NSA Detention of Sambhal Violence Accused; Orders UP Govt to Pay Rs 10 Lakh as Fine

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down the preventive detention of Sambhal violence accused Mulla Afroz under the National Security Act (NSA), sharply criticising the Uttar Pradesh government for what it called an illegal exercise of draconian power and directing the state to pay Rs 10 lakh in costs.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu allowed Afroz's appeal, setting aside an earlier Allahabad High Court order that had declined to interfere with his detention. The court ruled that a confession allegedly made by Afroz in police custody was inadmissible and could not form the basis for invoking the NSA, holding that preventive detention cannot rest on an inadmissible custodial statement. The bench said Uttar Pradesh authorities had acted beyond the limits of law and that the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction could not be built on material that had no legal standing.

Afroz, who had earlier secured bail in the underlying criminal case, was booked under the NSA in October 2024 following an order by the Sambhal district magistrate, with police at the time describing him as an aide of the case's prime accused, Shariq Sata, and citing a history of prior criminal cases against him.

The case stems from the November 2024 violence in Sambhal, which erupted during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid amid claims that a temple had previously stood at the site. The unrest left several people dead and dozens injured, and led to multiple arrests and NSA proceedings against those accused of planning or inciting the violence.