A professor from an elite, non-public liberal-arts college in India has been arrested for a social media submit about information briefings on the navy operation in opposition to Pakistan greater than per week after the 2 nuclear-armed neighbours agreed to a ceasefire, in accordance with native media studies.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an affiliate professor with the Division of Political Science at Ashoka College, was arrested on Sunday beneath sections of the prison code pertaining to acts prejudicial to sustaining communal concord, incitement of armed riot or subversive actions, and insults of spiritual beliefs.
A police official advised the Indian Categorical newspaper that Mahmudabad, 42, was arrested within the capital, New Delhi, 60km (37 miles) south of the college, situated in Sonepat in Haryana state.
A report by the net publication Scroll.in on Sunday quoted Mahmudabad’s lawyer as saying the case in opposition to him was filed on Saturday primarily based on a grievance by Yogesh Jatheri, common secretary of the youth wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) in Haryana.
The arrest was made days after the Haryana State Fee for Ladies summoned Mahmudabad for his feedback on the day by day briefings on India’s navy operation in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh from the Indian armed forces held media briefings on Operation Sindoor, launched on Could 6.
In a Facebook post on Could 8, Mahmudabad had said: “I’m very joyful to see so many proper wing commentators applauding Colonel Sophia Qureishi however maybe they might additionally equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who’re victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian residents.
“The optics of two girls troopers presenting their findings is importantly however optics should translate to actuality on the bottom in any other case it’s simply hypocrisy.”
The submit referred to Qureishi, a Muslim officer within the Indian military, and assaults in opposition to Muslims, together with lynchings and destruction of their homes with out due course of.
In accordance with native media studies, the Haryana Ladies’s Fee on Monday stated the professor’s assertion “disparaged girls officers within the Indian Armed Forces and promoted communal disharmony” and summoned him.
Mahmudabad has defended his feedback and stated on X that they’d been misunderstood.
“If something, my complete feedback had been about safeguarding the lives of each residents and troopers. Moreover, there’s nothing remotely misogynistic about my feedback that could possibly be construed as anti-women,” he stated.
In February final 12 months, the human rights group Amnesty Worldwide urged the federal government to cease “unjust focused demolition of Muslim properties”.
“The illegal demolition of Muslim properties by the Indian authorities, peddled as ‘bulldozer justice’ by political leaders and media, is merciless and appalling. Such displacement and dispossession is deeply unjust, illegal and discriminatory. They’re destroying households – and should cease instantly,” stated Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general.
“The authorities have repeatedly undermined the rule of legislation, destroying properties, companies or locations of worship, by focused campaigns of hate, harassment, violence and the weaponization of JCB bulldozers. These human rights abuses should be urgently addressed,” she stated in a statement.
India’s Supreme Court docket has ordered a halt to so-called bulldozer justice, however that has not stopped authorities from disregarding due course of.
The federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP has additionally been accused of permitting far-right Hindu vigilante teams to behave with impunity. They’ve lynched Muslims and tried to police interfaith relations. Modi has spoken in opposition to cow vigilante killings, however his authorities has executed little to cease the actions of vigilante teams.
My assertion re the summons that I acquired from the Haryana State Ladies’s Fee.
The posts that had been misunderstood and objected to may be accessed on my Fb web page. pic.twitter.com/U4rZrAXhFx
— Ali Khan Mahmudabad (@Mahmudabad) May 14, 2025
Professors and activists throughout the nation have proven their assist for Mahmudabad.
An open letter with about 1,200 signatories launched on Friday said: “It’s clear that Prof Khan praised the strategic restraint of the armed forces, analysed how any distinction between the terrorists or non-state actors and the Pakistani navy has now collapsed, and stated that the optics of the ladies officers chosen for media debriefs was ‘essential’ as proof that the secular imaginative and prescient of the founders of our Republic continues to be alive.”
The truce between India and Pakistan, introduced on Could 10, halted a number of days of missile and drone assaults throughout their shared border. Pakistan stated not less than 31 individuals had been killed in India’s strikes whereas India stated not less than 15 individuals had been killed in Pakistan’s counterattacks.
