Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad Arrested Over Social Media Post On Operation Sindoor | X @Mahmudabad
Chandigarh: Haryana police on Sunday arrested an associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Sonepat-based Ashoka university following the registration of a case against him in connection with his remarks on social media on ‘Operation Sindoor’.
The case was based on a complaint lodged by the Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson (HSCW) Renu Bhatia and a complaint filed by a BJP leader, also village Jatheri sarpanch, Yogesh Jatheri.
The HSCW chairperson Bhatia had taken a suo motu cognisance of Mahmudabad’s remarks and summoned him to appear before it on May 14. Attaching screenshots of his remarks/statements on social platforms, the HSCW notice said that he had called the press briefings on ‘Operation Sindoor’ by the two senior women officers of the Indian armed forces “optics and hypocrisy’’ and that he held “But the optics must translate to realty on the ground otherwise it’s just hypocrisy’’.
The HSWC also held that his remarks were allegedly “disparaging women in the Armed Forces and Promoting Communal Harmony’’. The notice also raised concerns about the “disparagement of women in uniform, including Col Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and undermined their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces’’.
It also epressed its concerns over what it held “misrepresentation of the facts and repeated reference to “genocide’’, “dehumanisation’’ and “hypocrisy’’, thereby attributing malicious communal intent to Government of India and Indian Armed Forces as well as inciting communal distress and attempting to disturb internal peace’’.
Mahmudabad in his response to the notice said on X: “…. The screenshots attached to the notice make it clear that my remarks have been completely misunderstood and that the Commission has no jurisdiction whatsoever in the matter. The Women’s Commission is a body that serves an important function; however, the summons issued to me fail to highlight how my post is contrary to the rights of or laws for women’’.
“…Contrary to the allegations, my post appreciated the fact that the armed forces chose Colonel Sofia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh for the press conference to highlight the fact that the dream of the founders of our Republic, of an India which is united in its diversity, is still very much alive. I even applauded members of the right wing who supported Colonel Qureshi and invited them to have the same attitude for common Indian Muslims who face demonisation and persecution on a daily basis. If anything, my entire comments were about safeguarding the lives of both citizens and soldiers.….I have condemned the use of terrorists by the Pakistani military to destabilise the region…Simply put, I have exercised my 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… misread and misunderstood my posts to such an extent that they have inverted their meaning. This is a new form of censorship and harassment, which invents issues where there are none…Jai Hind”, he wrote.
