'Professor Mahmudabad lectured on love, secular values': Ashoka University students slam his arrest
Students at Ashoka University expressed solidarity with professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, arrested by Haryana Police for alleged social media posts.
Students of Sonipat-based Ashoka University have shown their solidarity with associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who was arrested by the Haryana Police on Sunday after two FIRs were registered against him, alleging his social media posts on Operation Sindoor endangered the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
On Sunday, the faculty association of Ashoka University condemned Ali Khan Mahmudabad's arrest and demanded his immediate release.
Terming the arrest as a “stark violation” of not just academic freedom, but of the very principles he taught them and stood for, the students of the varsity said in a statement on Monday, "We, the students of the course 'Banish the Poets', stand firmly united and in solidarity with our professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad.
"Throughout the course, professor Khan lectured on love, consistently emphasising secular values such as reason, compassion, justice and freedom of thought as the foundations for meaningful dialogue. His wrongful arrest is a stark violation of not just academic freedom, but of the very principles he taught us and stood for.”
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The students added that Mahmudabad emphasised the power of the written word and encouraged them to speak.
“He encouraged us to share our truths, and to hold space for each other. It was under his guidance and in the space created by his lectures that many of us felt emboldened to speak, share, write, enjoy and appreciate the safety and sanctity of that space. The principles of compassion, justice and freedom he believed in were not something he only taught or preached; he lived them, and in doing so, he helped us live them more truly,” the statement said.
The students also joined the call for his immediate release, terming Mahmudabad's arrest "wrongful".
Ali Khan Mahmudabad's arrest
The Haryana Police arrested Mahmudabad, the head of Ashoka University's political science department, after two FIRs were registered against him.
The FIRs were lodged at the Rai police station in Sonipat district – one based on a complaint by the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on a complaint by a village sarpanch.
The May 12 notice mentioned that the panel has taken suo motu cognisance of the "public statements/remarks" made "on or about May 7" by Mahmudabad.
"We salute the country's daughters -- Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. But the kind of words the professor who teaches political science has used for them... I expected that he would at least present himself before the commission today and express regret," Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia had said.
The associate professor described the media briefings by Army colonel Qureshi and IAF's wing commander Vyomika Singh as "optics". "But optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it's just hypocrisy," he had said.
The Congress, CPI(M), AIMIM and Trinamool Congress have also denounced the police action against Mahmudabad, who maintained that his comments were "misunderstood", asserting that he only exercised his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
(With inputs from PTI)
