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Ashoka professor released after 10 months in jail over ‘Operation Sindoor’ post
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who heads the political science department at Ashoka University, was arrested on May 18 over a social media post on “Operation Sindoor”
Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was released from Sonepat district jail on Thursday evening, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail.
Khan, who heads the political science department at Ashoka University in Sonepat, was arrested on May 18 over a social media post regarding “Operation Sindoor”.
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Kapil Balyan, one of the advocates representing Khan at the Sonepat district court, said that he was released on a ₹1 lakh surety bail bond with two sureties.
“Around 4.55 pm, the associate professor was released from the district jail. He left along with family members and some colleagues,” Balyan added.
SIT constituted
Acting on the Supreme Court’s direction, Haryana director general of police Shatrujeet Kapur on Thursday constituted a three-member special investigation team to conduct investigations in the two FIRs against the professor.
Headed by additional director general of police (DGP, Crime) Mamta Singh, the SIT will include Karnal superintendent of police (SP) Ganga Ram Punia and Gurugram SP (STF) Vikrant Bhushan.
According to an order issued by the DGP Kapur, “The SIT will expeditiously complete the investigation in the aforementioned cases and will submit a report under Sections 193 of BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita), 2023, at the earliest.”
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court, while hearing Mahmudabad’s petition, pulled him up for his Facebook post and accused him of “dog-whistling”. Dog-whistling refers to the use of coded or suggestive language aimed at a particular group in society.
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The bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said the bail was being granted only to facilitate the ongoing investigation. It directed Mahmudabad to furnish a single bail bond for both FIRs and submit his passport before the Sonepat chief judicial magistrate.
Mahmudabad’s post, which praised the military’s restraint while warning against “warmongering and performative patriotism”, drew criticism from the Haryana State Commission for Women. Its chairperson, Renu Bhatia, complained that he had disparaged women officers, particularly Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, who briefed the media after the cross-border strike. After her complaint, an FIR was registered against him.
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The second case was registered at the Rai police station on the complaint of local BJP youth leader and Jatheri village sarpanch Yogesh.
On Tuesday, the Sonepat court had sent Mahmudabad to judicial custody till May 27.
