Summons issued by Haryana State Women’s Commission to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad

State: Haryana

Year: 2025

Date: May 12, 2025

Source:

https://freespeechcollective.in/statements/ashok-univ-prof-refutes-allegation-that-his-statement-on-op-sindoor-was-misogynistic/

Lawfare – Summons/Notices

The Haryana State Women’s Commission issued a summons to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad for two of his social media posts, alleging that he made statements that allegedly “disparaged women officers in the Indian Armed Forces and promoted communal disharmony”. Prof Mahmudabad has contested the allegations and said they constitute “a new form of censorship and harassment, which invents issues where there are none.”

Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad is an associate professor and the head of the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University. He is a historian and a well-known writer, columnist and poet. While Ashoka University distanced itself from his comments and said he had made it in a personal capacity, members of the academic community and civil society groups rallied around and demanded that the Haryana State Women’s Commission retract the summons and offer him an unconditional apology.

Lawfare

Updated On: May 18, 2025

Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad arrested over 'hypocrisy' remark on Operation Sindoor press briefing

Ashoka University’s associate professor of Political Science, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, has been arrested by the Haryana police four days after the Haryana State Commission for Women summoned him over a Facebook post commenting on the media coverage of Operation Sindoor.

According to news website Scroll, the charges against him include sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that relate to inciting communal disharmony, rebellion and insulting religious beliefs, a move that has triggered outrage across academic and activist circles.

Source:

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/ashoka-university-professor-arrested-over-facebook-post-on-operation-sindoor/cid/2100467

Lawfare

Updated On: May 21, 2025

Supreme Court grants interim bail to professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, forms SIT to probe his statements

Supreme Court of India on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ashoka University professor and political scientist Ali Khan Mahmudabad in the Haryana police cases over social media posts on Operation Sindoor.

Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 and has been under custody ever since.

The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice NK Singh which refused to stay the investigation formed a special SIT to probe the statements made by Professor Mahmudabad.

The Court directed the Haryana DGP to constitute within 24 hours a Special Investigation Team comprising senior IPS officers, who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi, to investigate and understand the true meaning of Mahmudabad’s post. One officer of the SIT should be a woman.

Read the bail order here: https://freespeechcollective.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/SC-Bail-order21-may-2025-601081.pdf

Source:

https://maktoobmedia.com/india/supreme-court-grants-interim-bail-to-professor-ali-khan-mahmudabad-forms-sit-to-probe-his-statements/