Reader TTS

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognizance on Wednesday of a media report regarding the arrest and custodial remand of Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan

Mahmudabad in connection with his alleged comment on ‘Operation Sindoor.’ The NHRC issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Haryana calling for a detailed report in the matter

within one week. Advertisement Mahmudabad is an associate professor and head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University. He was arrested earlier this week for a social media

post about India’s ‘Operation Sindoor,’ which targeted nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Advertisement “The Commission has noted that the report,

which contains a gist of the allegations on the basis of which he has been arrested, discloses, prima facie, that the human rights and liberty of the said professor have been violated.

Therefore, it has deemed it to be a fit case for taking suo motu cognizance of the reported incident,” said the NHRC in a statement. Earlier, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to

Mahmudabad in the Haryana Police FIR over his social media posts about ‘Operation Sindoor.’ He was arrested on May 18 and has been in custody since. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.

Kotiswar Singh refused to stay the two FIRs registered by Haryana Police against him, saying he has not made out any case for a stay on investigation. However, the bench released him on

interim bail. “We direct the petitioner to be released on interim bail subject to the furnishing of bail bonds to the satisfaction of the CJM Sonepat,” ordered the bench while imposing

certain conditions on his release. The apex court has restrained the associate professor from making any further online posts or speeches on the issue or speech related to this matter. No

article or online posts are to be made, nor will any speech be delivered on the subject matter of the case. Furthermore, he has been restrained from making any comments on the terrorist

attack on Indian soil or the counter-response that was given back to Pakistan by India. Moreover, the bench has also asked him to surrender his passport. It also ordered the constitution of

a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within 24 hours to probe the matter. The top court directed that the SIT be comprised of senior IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi, and one

officer of the SIT should be a woman. The SIT should be headed by an Inspector General rank, and the other two members must be of SP rank. “Having regard to the contents of two alleged

offending online posts that led to an FIR against the petitioner, we are satisfied that no case for staying the investigation is made out. However, to understand the complexity and for

proper appreciation of the language used in the post, we direct DGP Haryana to constitute an SIT comprising three IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi. SIT shall be headed by

the inspector general of police, and one of the members shall be a woman officer,” the order stated. The controversy arose from a Facebook post when Mahmudabad criticized war hawks and

expressed concern over selective nationalism. “I am very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding Colonel Sophia Qureishi, but perhaps they could also equally loudly demand

that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing, and others who are victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens,” the post read on the social media platform.

Advertisement