Ashoka University professor held over Op Sindoor remark
Mahmudabad, who is the head of the political science department at the private university, was arrested from New Delhi in the early hours.
Ashoka University’s associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was arrested on Sunday after two cases involving stringent charges, including endangering sovereignty and integrity, were registered against him at Sonepat in Haryana over his social media posts related to Operation Sindoor, police said.
Mahmudabad, who is the head of the political science department at the private university, was arrested from New Delhi in the early hours. The move drew sharp criticism from the professor’s colleagues, fellow academics, and several political leaders and parties.
Counsel Kapildev said that Mahmudabad was presented before a court and was sent to two days of police remand.
Mahmudabad’s lawyer termed the arrest “unlawful” even as the Sonepat-based Ashoka University maintained they will cooperate with the police and local authorities in the probe. The associate professor had earlier said his remarks were “misunderstood” and added that he had exercised his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), crime, Narender Kadyan said two FIRs were lodged at the Rai police station in Sonepat — one based on a complaint from the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on the complaint of the sarpanch of Jatheri village.
“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, hours after the arrest.
“He has been arrested today,” the DCP added.
The senior officer said the women commission had issued a notice to the professor, adding that no action was taken on the FIR filed on the complaint by village sarpanch, who had submitted that “he felt humiliated in person.”
The sarpanch was claimed to be “associated with state BJP Yuva Morcha.”
Mahmudabad’s lawyer Kapil Balyan told HT over phone that his client was arrested “illegally” and “unlawfully” from Delhi in a “frivolous case”.
Ashoka University also released a statement, saying: “We have been made aware that Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been taken into police custody earlier today. We are in the process of ascertaining details of the case. The University will continue to cooperate with the Police and local authorities in the investigation, fully.”
The faculty association of the university in a statement said it “strongly condemns” the arrest of Mahmudabad on “groundless and untenable” charges. 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 women commission said it has taken suo motu cognisance of the “public statements/remarks” made “on or about May 7” by Mahmudabad. His remarks were annexed to the commission’s notice, and in one of them, he said that right-wing people applauding Col Sofiya Qureshi should demand protection for victims of mob lynchings and “arbitrary” bulldozing of properties.
The associate professor described as “optics” the media briefings by Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh — who along with foreign secretary Vikram Misry had briefed reporters on India’s military action on terror targets in Pakistan and PoK under Operation Sindoor.
“But optics must translate to reality on the ground, otherwise it’s just hypocrisy,” the associate professor had said.
The commission 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”.
The associate professor had said that the commission has “misread” his comment. “...I am surprised that the Women’s Commission, while overreaching its jurisdiction, has misread and misunderstood my posts to such an extent that they have inverted their meaning,” Mahmudabad had said on X.
