Ashoka University Associate Professor and political scientist Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested for his comments about Operation Sindoor based on a complaint by a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing.
The complainant is Yogesh Jatheri, the general secretary of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha in Haryana.
He has been arrested under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to acts prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony, inciting armed rebellion or subversive activities and insulting religious beliefs.
The arrest comes amid growing outrage over the targeting of him.
“Haryana police has illegally arrested Dr Ali Khan. Taken to Haryana from Delhi without transit remand. FIR at 8 PM. Police reaches his home next morning at 7 AM! Delhi high court and Supreme Court must intervene. Please see the Pravir Purkayastha judgment of the Supreme Court,” said Delhi University professor and writer Apoorvanand.
In a social media post on May 8, Mahmudabad had highlighted the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofia Qureshi. “Perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens,” the academic had said.
Following his social media post, the Haryana State Women’s Commission had claimed that Mahmudabad’s comments about the press briefings “disparaged women officers in the Indian armed forces and promoted communal disharmony.”
Mahmudabad said that his remarks had been “completely misunderstood” by the commission and that its notice failed to highlight how his posts were “contrary to the right of or laws for women.”
A day before, an open letter signed by over 1,200 people—including academics, politicians, civil servants, and many others from all corners—expressed support for political scientist Ali Khan Mahmudabad, demanding that the Haryana Women’s Commission retract its summons to him and apologise for “deliberately and maliciously slandering him.”
The letter said it is “preposterous” that “even praising the army, albeit while criticising those who clamour for war, can now invite such targeted harassment and attempted censorship.”
