The Supreme Court on September 29 quashed the NSA detention of Mulla Afroz, the man accused of masterminding the November 2024 Sambhal violence. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu ruled his preventive detention was illegal.

The court held that a confessional statement made before the police cannot be the sole ground for preventive detention under the National Security Act. It imposed costs of Rs 10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government, according to Bar and Bench and LiveLaw.

Afroz was accused in 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. Afroz was arrested about 54 days later, and the NSA order against him was passed on October 13, 2025.

The Allahabad High Court had earlier upheld the detention. The Supreme Court set that order aside, finding the legal basis weak.

The ruling matters because preventive-detention laws let the state hold people without trial. The court said such powers must pass strict legal tests, and the UP government must now pay the costs.