Criminal charges against Ashoka University professor are ‘outrageous and absurd’, say a group of former civil servants

Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad being escorted by police personnel after his arrest. File

Terming the criminal charges against associate professor of Political Science Ashoka University, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, “outrageous and absurd”, the ‘Constitutional Conduct Group’, comprising 79 former civil servants, in a statement on Thursday (May 29, 2025) said that Mr. Mahmudabad’s two social media posts related to Operation Sindoor, for which he has been charged, were in fact “thoughtful and measured”.

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“He [Prof. Mahmudabad] praised the restraint of the Indian Army and noted the importance of the ‘optics’ of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as a face of the Indian armed forces during the press briefings at the time that the hostilities were underway, but added that the symbolism of this would be hypocritical if lynching and bulldozing of homes continued,’’ the signatories stated.

They include Anita Agnihotri, former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment; Chandrashekar Balakrishnan, former Secretary, Coal; and Sharad Behar, former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

The Constitutional Conduct Group’s statement said the perils and consequences of suppressing free speech by the unjust application of criminal law could be profoundly corrosive for a society.

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Stating that the criminal charges pertained to stringent Sections of India’s new criminal law code, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including Section 152, which penalises acts “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”, the group said the move closely echoes the language of the colonial era sedition law under the now repealed Indian Penal Code.

Other crimes for which the academic has been charged include Section 196(1)(b) on disturbing communal harmony and public tranquillity; Section 197(1)(c) on assertions likely to cause disharmony; and Section 299, which criminalises “deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings”.

The group said many students and faculty members had come forward to express heartening solidarity with Prof. Mahmudabad, even though the management of Ashoka University has remained conspicuously silent on the unjust criminal targeting of their faculty.

Mr. Mahmudabad was arrested by the Haryana Police on May 18, after two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against him at the Rai Police Station in Sonipat, Haryana, over his social media posts in connection with Operation Sindoor. He was released from the Sonipat District Jail on the evening of May 22, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail. 

Later, the Supreme Court extended his interim bail, stating there would be no impediment to his right to speech and expression. The court, however, directed the professor to not post online anything related to the cases in which he is embroiled.

Published - May 29, 2025 10:26 pm IST