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Supreme Court grants interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad; panel to probe online posts
Supreme Court grants interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad; panel to probe online posts
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 21, 2025) granted interim bail to Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, but refused to stay the investigation against him for his social media posts on the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and the sufferings caused by war.
He was arrested by the Haryana Police on Sunday (May 18, 2025) after it filed two first information reports (FIRs) against him for his online posts.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad granted interim bail | Follow LIVE updates on May 23, 2025
A Bench headed by Justice Surya Kant made it a point to clarify that the interim bail was given to “facilitate” the investigation. The court directed the Haryana Director-General of Police to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within 24 hours of three senior, directly recruited IPS officers who did not hail from either Haryana or Delhi. The SIT would be led by an officer of the rank of Inspector-General. The other two investigators would be Superintendents of Police. One of the members would be a woman.
Suspecting the academician of indulging in “dog whistling” through his social media posts, the court tasked the SIT with examining the language and checking the nuances of particular words used in the posts.
The court said, prima facie, some of the words used by the Professor held a “dual meaning”. Justice Kant compared them to a “missile” seemingly shown as going in one direction but actually intended to travel the opposite way.
“This is a matter of investigation,” Justice Kant remarked. The Bench directed Mr. Mahmudabad to join the investigation and cooperate with it fully.
Also Read | Ashoka University associate professor Mahmudabad sent to judicial custody
The court also ordered the academician, represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Siddharth Luthra and advocate Lzafeer Ahmad, to refrain from writing or speaking anything related to the posts. The court directed the petitioner to desist from expressing any opinions on the conflict recently faced by India in relation to the Pahalgam attack or Operation Sindoor.
The court asked Additional Solicitor-General S.V. Raju, appearing for Haryana, to instruct the State not to register any further FIRs on the two posts. Mr. Raju submitted that the State was in “the process of unearthing more incriminating material”.
The court gave the State liberty to place such material, if gathered, on record before it.
Justice Kant, after Mr. Sibal took the Bench through the text of the social media posts, asked whether this was the time for his client to indulge in such talk.
EDITORIAL | Thought police: on a professor's arrest
“The country has faced a big challenge. Monsters came all the way from a different jurisdiction and attacked our innocent people. At a time when we are united… Why did you (Mahmudabad) try to create cheap popularity on this occasion?” Justice Kant asked.
Mr. Sibal said his client had no criminal intent. He was saluting and not denigrating the defence forces and people of India.
“Everybody talks about freedoms, where is the duty to protect others? It is as if for the past 75 years the country is only distributing rights without telling what your duty to the nation is… The learned professor had no dearth of words… It is very, very unfortunate in a society where one is given freedom of expression, a choice of words is made deliberately to insult, humiliate or cause discomfort to others… This is called dog whistling,” Justice Kant observed orally.
The court said the academician had a right to his opinion, but not at the cost of hurting others.
“There was no criminal intent. He was obviously hurt by what was happening… He has not said anything against any woman officer,” Mr. Sibal responded.
Published - May 21, 2025 12:29 pm IST
Supreme Court
Source: The Hindu
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