India, Sept. 30 -- Observing that a preventive detention cannot become punitive, the Supreme Court on Tuesday slapped a cost of Rs.10 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government for passing an order under the National Security Act (NSA) against an accused in the Sambhal mosque violence in November 2024

Setting aside the detention order issued in October 2025 by the District Magistrate, Sambhal, a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu held that it was based on a confessional statement made by the accused while in custody and the same could not have served as the sole basis for curtailing the liberty of the accused.

The order was passed on a petition filed by one Mulla Afroz, who was an accused in the violence that followed an order of...