Sambhal violence: Supreme Court quashes man’s NSA detention, fines UP Rs 10 lakh

Afroz was arrested on January 17, 2025 in connection with the violence which rocked Sambhal and led to four deaths. He was detained under the NSA on October 13, 2025, while he was in judicial custody in the case.

What the prosecution said

According to the prosecution, Afroz had instigated the crowd which turned violent and in turn “the public order of the entire Sambhal city as well as the surrounding areas was completely disrupted, an atmosphere of chaos was created, shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and the public closed the doors and windows of their houses due to fear and everyone started looking for a place to hide and the people who were shopping ran away or hide inside the shops due to fear.”

Afroz challenged the detention before the high court, alleging that he had made the extra-judicial confession before the police, after torture and threat of encounter and as such, the confession was not admissible in law.

What the Allahabad High Court had said

The Allahabad High Court upheld the detention order, saying “In the present case, we find that the impugned detention order dated 13.10.2025 is based on application of mind and proper exercise of jurisdiction by the respondent no. 3 (District Magistrate, Sambhal).”

“It has been held in the detention order that the detention of the petitioner is necessary to prevent him from committing acts against the public order and therefore his detention is necessary. The subjective satisfaction recorded by the respondent no. 3 appears to be justified and cannot be questioned before the Court. It does not shows any non-application of mind,” it added.

The order also pointed out that 22 documents, in support of the impugned detention order, were provided to Afroz. “…therefore, it is not the case of the petitioner that the material forming the basis of the detention order was not supplied to him and that the detention order is unreasoned,” the court added. The high court noted that “in the counter affidavit filed by” the state, “it is clear that widespread violence was caused by the petitioner (detenu) and other persons in the alleged incident.”

Observing that a number of policemen were injured and a large number of incriminating weapons were recovered, the court said, “Material has been collected by respondent no. 3 proving that the petitioner (detenu) was involved in the instigating the crowd to indulge in mob violence and arson. This situation created by the petitioner (detenu) and his other companions led to breakdown of public order. The atmosphere of fear was created in the minds of public.”

The bench added that the police struggled to control the situation. “The act of petitioner (detenu) disturbed the society and the community as well. It affected the even tempo of life because of repercussion of his act and it created fear in the large section of the other communities. It was not just law and order situation created by the petitioner (detenu) rather it was an act which jeopardized the public order,” it added.

The high court said that the detention order “rests on sound reasoning”. “There is due application of mind by the detaining authority as well as the state government to come to a subjective satisfaction that the petitioner was required to be detained under the NSA. The grounds of detention are well informed, where details of acts and the resulting facts which showed violation of public order, have been copiously noticed by the detaining Authority. The way the even tempo of life was affected, has been cited with definitive instances in the grounds of detention. The possibility of the detenue repeating acts that may lead to further violation of public order have also been recorded. The subjective satisfaction, in that regard also, is founded on valid and objective material,” the high court added.