Police personnel outside the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on November 25, following the violence.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday, September 29, quashed the preventive detention of Mulla Afroz, accused of being the mastermind of the 2024 communal violence in Sambhal.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu held that an accused’s confession statement made in police custody cannot serve as the basis for detaining them under the National Security Act (NSA). The court imposed a cost of Rs 10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government for passing the illegal preventive detention order.
The Uttar Pradesh Police had invoked the stringent NSA against Mulla Afroz in October 2025 for his alleged role in the violence.
The NSA empowers the Centre and states to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner “prejudicial to the defence of India.” The maximum detention period is 12 months, though it can be revoked earlier. The local administration can invoke the Act, which has to be ratified by a former High Court judge. Because it is preventive detention rather than an arrest, there is no legal obligation to present the detainee before a court of law.
Earlier, on September 8, the bench had questioned the UP government over the NSA detention, as well as the relevance and value of an alleged confession made in custody. The court had asked whether such a confession could form the ground for “subjective satisfaction” needed to pass a preventive detention order.
Mulla Afroz was arrested approximately 54 days after violence erupted in Sambhal over a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid following claims that a Harihar temple previously existed at the site. On November 24, 2024, during a second round of the survey, protesting locals clashed with security personnel, which led to the death of four people and injuries to dozens.
This post was last modified on September 29, 2026 2:24 pm