SOURCE ; NEW18
Last Updated:May 18, 2025, 22:48 IST
Ashoka University professor was arrested after two FIRs were lodged on stringent charges, including endangering sovereignty and integrity, for his posts on Operation Sindoor.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor at Ashoka University (Credits: X)
Ashoka University’s head of the political science department, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, was arrested on Sunday after two FIRs were lodged on stringent charges, including endangering sovereignty and integrity, for his social media posts related to Operation Sindoor, police and his lawyer said.
One of Mahmudabad’s lawyers, Kapil Balyan, said that the associate professor was produced before a court this evening and was remanded in police custody for two days in a case registered on the complaint from the Haryana State Commission for Women late Saturday night.
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The arrest comes days after the Commission sent a notice to him questioning his remarks, though Mahmudabad had maintained that they were “misunderstood” and asserted that he had exercised his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Narender Kadyan said two FIRs were lodged at the Rai police station here — one based on a complaint from the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on the complaint of a village sarpanch.
“Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested in Delhi,” Assistant Commissioner of Police, Rai, Ajeet Singh said over phone, adding the action came in connection with some comments related to Operation Sindoor.
Mahmudabad’s lawyer has refuted the charges against him and said the remarks were within the bounds of academic and democratic discourse.
Balyan said the defence argued before the court that Mahmudabad is a nationalist and a patriot and his social media post has been wrongly interpreted.
In a letter dated May 16 to the state DGP, the Haryana Women Commission had made a recommendation for registration of an FIR against Mahmudabad “based on prima facie evidence and precedent”.
“On the Commission chairperson’s complaint, the FIR has been lodged against Professor Ali of Ashoka University under BNS sections 152 (acts endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India), 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 79 (deliberate actions aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman) and 196 (1) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion),” Kadyan told reporters here.
Balyan claimed the sarpanch who lodged the complaint “is also associated with state BJP Yuva Morcha”.
“The case was lodged on Saturday and the next morning, the professor was arrested from Delhi. No notice was given to him and he was taken into custody by police,” the lawyer said.
Police said the case has been lodged on sarpanch’s complaint under BNS sections 152, 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc. and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations, assertions, prejudicial to national integration) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).
All these sections are non-bailable.
In a statement, the Ashoka University said it was trying to ascertain details of the case and will continue to cooperate with the police and local authorities in the investigation.
The Faculty Association of Ashoka University in a statement strongly condemned Mahmudabad’s arrest on “groundless and untenable charges”.
“We condemn the calculated harassment to which Professor Mahmudabad has been subjected: after being arrested early in the morning from his home in New Delhi, he was taken to Sonipat, not allowed access to necessary medication, and driven around for hours without any communication about his whereabouts,” it said.
The CPI(M), AIMIM leader Asaddudin Owaisi and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra were among those who denounced the police action.
Moitra said they will move the court against the arrest.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA), in a statement, expressed outrage at the “wholly unwarranted arrest” and demanded that the charges against him be dropped.
In its May 12 notice, the Haryana State Commission for Women mentioned that the panel has taken suo motu cognisance of the “public statements/remarks” made “on or about May 7” by Mahmudabad.
Mahmudabad’s remarks had been annexed to the Commission’s notice, and in one of them, he said that right-wing people applauding Col Qureshi should demand protection for victims of mob lynchings and “arbitrary” bulldozing of properties.
The associate professor described the media briefings by Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh as “optics”. “But optics must translate to reality on the ground, otherwise it’s just hypocrisy,” he had said.
The Commission had earlier said an initial review of Mahmudabad’s remarks has raised concerns about the “disparagement of women in uniform, including Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh, and undermining their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces”.
Wing Commander Singh had briefed the media alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Col Qureshi on Operation Sindoor.
Meanwhile, the Commission’s complaint alleges that the associate professor’s social media post “is interwoven with language that might read sympathising in the first glance to few but after a careful informed reading it portrays the words which are completely uncalled for in the current geopolitical space and domestic security and peace concerns”.
“His words such as ’…arbitrary…senseless death…’ deserve serious condemnation in all shapes and forms as the context of the statement can neither be attributed to good faith nor can it be called ejusdem generis due to the absence of a declaration of war by the Government of India,” it says.
“Observed through an objective lens and the prudent man test, it goes on to depict a clear meaning of calling the targeted retaliatory action of the Indian Army as arbitrary…,” it further says.
Being an academician, Ali, owes special responsibility towards society as a whole to be more careful with his words, it says, while adding his usage of cyber space to share the following sentiments cannot be seen to be aligned with fundamental right of free speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.
It says that the associate professor “goes further to name a political party, calling it a hate-mongering entity and cites a set of people as right-wing commentators while acknowledging that they applauded Col. Sophia Querishi during the press conference”.
“The mention of only Col. Qureshi during this statement clearly suggests the author’s intent to clothe his post with the colour of religious identity.
“This could have far-reaching repercussions, considering the power of cyberspace in the current times. It leads to promotion of enmity amongst religious groups in India, leading to disharmony when we as a country must stand united in such challenging times, supporting the acts of our combat forces,” it says, according to the FIR.
It claims that remarks not only insulted the women officers “personally but questioned the ability of women in general and showcased them as instruments for furthering a narrative or agenda, thereby questioning their ability.” Indian armed forces hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7 under Operation Sindoor in retaliation against the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
The associate professor had earlier said he exercised his “fundamental right to freedom of thought and speech in order to promote peace and harmony and to applaud the Indian armed forces for their resolute action, while criticising those who preach hatred and seek to destabilise India”.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
- Location :
Sonipat, India, India
- First Published:
May 18, 2025, 22:48 IST
