New Delhi/Gurugram: Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was arrested early Sunday morning from his Delhi residence by the Haryana Police over social media posts commenting on Operation Sindoor and press briefings by Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh.
According to people close to his family, at around 6.30 am, a team of 15 Haryana Police personnel entered his Delhi residence and took him into custody. His wife is reportedly nine months pregnant.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad’s lawyer, Supreme Court advocate Nizam Pasha, confirmed his arrest to ThePrint. “It appears he was arrested based on an FIR lodged Saturday evening. We are still awaiting a copy,” he said.
DCP (crime) Narender Singh, who holds the additional charge of Sonipat East, under whose jurisdiction the case falls, also told ThePrint, “He was arrested Sunday morning.”
The police filed the FIR against Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor and head of the political science department at Ashoka, based on a complaint by the general secretary of the ruling BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, in Haryana—Yogesh Jatheri. He is also sarpanch of Sonipat’s Jatheri village.
“Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad had said that the government was bringing Colonel Sofiya forward, only to show her in the media. Otherwise, the government keeps working against the Muslim people and their religion … also said that the tension on the border has been created due to some crazy army personnel in both the countries … (sic),” the FIR lodged at Sonipat’s Rai police station read.
According to the FIR, “instead of uniting people to fight against external powers at such a sensitive time, this professor kept on inciting emotions, inciting people based on religion for the benefit of external or foreign powers.”
The FIR has charged Ali Khan Mahmudabad under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 152 (acts which endanger sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), according to Pasha.
Yogesh Jatheri did not respond to calls from ThePrint. The report will be updated if and when his response is received.
“We have been made aware that Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been taken into police custody earlier today. We are in the process of ascertaining [the] details of the case. The university will continue to cooperate with the police and local authorities in the investigation fully,” Ashoka University has said in a statement.
The Haryana State Commission for Women (HSCW), earlier on 12 May, took suo motu cognisance of Mahmudabad’s comments under the Haryana State Commission for Women Act 2012, under sections 10(1)(f) and 10(1)(a), which cover matters of deprivation of women’s rights and women’s safeguards, respectively.
The controversy
“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,” reads an excerpt from a Facebook post by Ali Khan Mahmudabad.
“The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is important, but optics must translate to reality on the ground; otherwise, it’s just hypocrisy. When a prominent Muslim politician said ‘Pakistan Murdabad‘, and was trolled by Pakistanis for doing so, Indian Right-wing commentators defended him by saying ‘he is our mulla‘. Of course, this is funny, but it also points to just how deep communalism has managed to infect the Indian body politic,” the post further said.
“For me, the press conference was just a fleeting glimpse—an illusion and allusion perhaps—to an India that defied the logic on which Pakistan was built. As I said, the grassroots reality that common Muslims face is different from what the government tried to show but at the same time, the press conference shows that an India, united by its diversity, is not completely dead as an idea. Jai Hind,” the professor added.
After the Haryana State Commission for Women issued him a notice, Ali Khan Mahmudabad defended himself in a public statement, saying that his comments were misunderstood and that the attacks were a new form of “censorship” and “harassment”. “Contrary to the allegations, my post appreciated that the armed forces chose Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh for the press conference to highlight that the dream of the founders of our Republic—of an India united in its diversity—is still very much alive,” Ali Khan Mahmudabad said.
“I have analysed and commented on the way care has been taken by the Indian armed forces to not target military or civilian installations or infrastructure so that there is no unnecessary escalation. This reflects a clear appreciation of the Indian military’s measured and proportional approach, and indeed, I condemned the use of terrorists by the Pakistani military to destabilise the region,” the professor added.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad also noted the HSCW’s “jurisdictional overreach”, saying that its notice did not even explain how his post was contrary to women’s rights or laws.
The commission, on the other hand, noted that his comments “disparaged women in uniform, including Col. Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, undermining their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces”. The commission also stated that the professor’s comments reportedly misrepresented facts, with repeated references to “genocide”, “dehumanisation”, and “hypocrisy”, with intentions to incite communal disharmony and peace. The notice also outlined the vilification of military actions against cross-border terrorism and breach of University Grants Commission (UGC) ethical guidelines for faculty.
“The comments made by a faculty member on his personal social media pages do not represent the opinion of the university. These statements have been made by him independently in his individual capacity. Ashoka University and all members of the Ashoka community are proud of India’s armed forces and support them unequivocally in their actions towards maintaining national security. We stand in solidarity with the nation and our forces,” Ashoka University said earlier when the controversy broke.
“He has said something very shameful. Two daughters of our country represented Operation Sindoor in front of India and the world. This professor, Ali—I wonder how he became a professor—he does not respect India’s daughters. What will he teach India’s daughters?” HSCW chairperson Renu Bhatia told the media on 14 May.
The controversy erupted following Operation Sindoor, the 7 May covert military operation by India targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
The operation gained attention for the multiple media briefings by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force, alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
The HSCW summoned Ali Khan Mahmudabad to appear in person on 14 May, warning that non-compliance could lead to legal action. Mahmudabad’s lawyer represented him before the commission.
In a response to The Print on the same day, Ali Khan Mahmudabad firmly rejected the allegations against him, asserting that his remarks were “grossly misunderstood and taken out of context”.
On 15 May, Renu Bhatia visited the Ashoka University campus in Sonipat’s Rai Education City to confront Mahmudabad, but he was not there. She later told The Print that his failure to comply necessitated further action, hinting at an FIR.
Educated at Amherst College, the University of Damascus, and the University of Cambridge, Ali Khan Mahmudabad is a prolific columnist for publications such as The Inquilab (Urdu), The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and The Guardian. His writings focus on South Asian and Middle Eastern politics, communal harmony, and Muslim identity.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad is also known for Poetry of Belonging: Muslim Imaginings of India 1850–1950, a book exploring the north-Indian Muslim identity through poetry. His work often critiques divisive politics and advocates for peace, drawing from his knowledge of Urdu literature and Islamic thought.
The professor, who hails from Mahmudabad, Uttar Pradesh, is the grandson of Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad.
He is married to the daughter of Haseeb Drabu, a former finance minister of Jammu and Kashmir in the PDP-BJP government from 2015 to 2018.
The Ashoka University website shows that his PhD at Cambridge focused on how the Muslim political identity in North India formed between 1850 and 1950.
“In particular, the thesis presented a history of the public space of poetry (the mushā‘irah) and a genealogy of the idea of homeland (watan) over these hundred years. Some of the other subjects relevant to my thesis are ideas of citizenship, patriotism, global Muslim identities, and their relevance in the articulation and configuration of Muslim ideas of selfhood,” Ali Khan Mahmudabad has written in his profile on the website.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Can you post the Professors FB article , let the readers decide if the post is vile, factual or derogatory
Great news indeed!
No wonder The Print wholeheartedly supports Prof. Mahmudabad and others of his ilk. How cleverly this article has refrained from publishing any of his vile posts on Facebook and X targeting Hindus. He has been an avowed Hindu-baiter for a long time now and frequently makes disparaging remarks against the community. Even in his academic role, his classes and research make a clear attempt at dehumanising and demonising the Hindu community.
There are many such professors at Ashoka University. Christophe Jaffrelot being a prime example of the Hinduphobic and Indophobic “intellectual” nurtured by this university.
It’s heartening to note that the law seems to be finally catching up with these pathological liars.