SC slaps Rs 10 lakh fine on UP govt over illegal detention of 2024 violence accused
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the preventive detention of Mulla Afroz under the National Security Act (NSA) over his role in the 2024 Sambhal violence and imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine on the Uttar Pradesh government for passing the "illegal" order.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu ruled that the confession statement of an accused recorded while in custody cannot be used as the basis for a preventive detention order under the NSA.
The court passed the judgment while setting aside Afroz's preventive detention. A detailed judgment is awaited.
In October 2025, the Uttar Pradesh Police invoked the NSA over his involvement in the communal violence that killed a total of four people.
The NSA empowers the Centre and state governments to detain individuals to prevent them from acting in a manner "prejudicial to the defence of India".
The maximum period of detention under the law is 12 months, although it can be revoked earlier.
The top court made it clear that a confession statement of an accused in custody cannot by itself form the basis for invoking preventive detention under the NSA.- Ends(With PTI inputs)
Aneesha Mathur is a Special Correspondent for India Today where she puts her LLB degree to use covering Legal issues and cases in the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High court and other courts/tribunals.
Aneesha joined India Today in October 2018. After graduating from St Stephen's College and Faculty of law,Delhi University, she spent the formative years of her career in print Media.
Her interest in journalism stems from experience while interning with Legal services and Juvenile justice board as a law student, where she learnt the importance of ensuring that accurate information reaches the world, and that stories about individual experiences and statistics that show a "bigger picture" must supplement each other so other people can see what the large impact of a small thing can be. When not working or thinking about the law and it's state, Aneesha hides from reality in fantasy novels, rom-coms and food.
