SC extends interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, says no i
SC extends interim bail to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, says no impediment on right to speech
M.U.H
28/05/202542
The Supreme Court Wednesday extended the interim bail granted to Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, mentioning that there would be no impediment on his right to speech and expression. The court however directed the professor to not post anything online with respect to cases he is embroiled in.
A week after granting interim relief to Mahmudabad, the apex court was hearing a plea against his arrest for his contentious social media posts on Operation Sindoor.
The Supreme Court bench also sought a report on the investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after the Haryana government apprised the court about its constitution.
The court further asked the Haryana police to update it about their response to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice on registration of FIR against the professor.
Terming his post “dog-whistling”, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh last week had refused to stay the investigation in the two FIRs against Mahmudabad. The court had asked the state director general of police (DGP) to set up a three-member SIT comprising senior IPS officers, one of whom would be a woman.
The court had also restrained him from making any online posts or writing any article or deliver speech on the issue which is the subject matter of the case, or making any comment on the terrorist attack recently faced by India which was a terrorist attack on Indian soil or India’s counter response to it.
Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 days after a show-cause notice issued to him by the Haryana State Commission for Women over his remarks allegedly disparaging women officers in the Indian armed forces.
Two FIRs were later lodged against him: one, based on a complaint by chairperson of the Haryana State Commission for Women Renu Bhatia and another by Jatheri village sarpanch Yogesh Jatheri, who is also the general secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Haryana.
