SC stays trial against Ashoka University professor over Op Sindoor posts
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed trial court proceedings against Ashoka University political science professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who had been booked by the Haryana Police over his social media posts on Operation Sindoor.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued an interim order restraining the jurisdictional magistrate from taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Haryana Police under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with offences against the sovereignty of the nation. The Bench also quashed proceedings in one of the FIRs against Mahmudabad, noting that a closure report had been filed in the matter.
In earlier hearings, the apex court had criticised the Haryana Special Investigation Team (SIT) for unnecessarily broadening the scope of its probe, after learning that the SIT had seized Mahmudabad’s electronic devices and even sought his travel records for the past decade. The court had made it clear that the professor should not be summoned again, as he had already joined the investigation and submitted his devices.
The Bench had further directed the SIT to complete its investigation within four weeks, instructing the team to confine its inquiry strictly to the language and content of Mahmudabad’s social media posts regarding the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s cross-border military response.
In its May 21 order, the Supreme Court instructed the Haryana Director General of Police to set up an SIT consisting of three directly recruited IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi. The court specified that the SIT must be headed by an officer of at least Inspector General rank, with the other two members being of Superintendent of Police rank or above, and one of them a woman IPS officer. The DGP was directed to constitute the SIT within 24 hours. The order also required Mahmudabad to join and fully cooperate with the investigation.
To enable the inquiry, the court had earlier granted Mahmudabad interim bail, subject to him furnishing bail bonds to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sonipat.
Mahmudabad, 42, was arrested following a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, General Secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Haryana. He faced charges under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to inciting armed rebellion or subversive activities, insulting religious beliefs, and other sedition-like offences.
The case also drew the attention of the Haryana State Commission for Women, with Chairperson Renu Bhatia taking suo motu cognisance of Mahmudabad’s remarks, which were alleged to disparage women in the Indian Armed Forces and promote communal disharmony. The commission had summoned the professor, but he did not appear before it.
With IANS inputs