In response to his contentious post about Operation Sindoor, Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was granted temporary bail by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. However, the court declined to halt the case’s investigation. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh chastised the professor for the timing of his comments, labelling it “dog whistling” and an attempt to obtain “cheap publicity” while awarding the temporary relief.
“We direct the petitioner be released on interim bail… Having regard to the contents of two alleged offending online posts, we are satisfied that no case for staying the investigation is made out,” the court said.
The top police officer in Haryana was also ordered by the court to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with senior IPS officers within 24 hours in order to conduct additional investigation. Nonetheless, the court ruled that one officer must be a woman and that the officers could not be from Delhi or Haryana. “To understand the complexity and for proper appreciation of the language used in the post, we direct DGP Haryana to constitute a SIT comprising three IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi,” the bench further said.
Mahmudabad was also subject to restrictions from the court, which prevented him from posting or speaking about the case in any way. Additionally, he is prohibited from speaking about the terror attack in Pahalgam or the ensuing conflict between India and Pakistan. The professor was also ordered to turn in his passport by the court.
On Tuesday, a Haryana court placed Mahmudabad, who was arrested on May 18, in 14 days of judicial custody. His post was seen as disrespectful to Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofia Qureshi, the female officers who led the media briefings on Operation Sindoor, and as disparaging the military.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court, however, didn’t mince any words while pulling up the professor, saying his remarks amount to “dog-whistling” and he should have used “neutral and respectful” language. “The entire projection is that he is anti-war, saying families of Army people, civilians in border areas suffer. But some words have double meanings also,” the court said.
The court said while everyone had freedom of speech, such occasions (during India-Pakistan tensions) should not be used to garner publicity. “Is it the time to talk about all of this? The country is already going through all this… monsters came and attacked our people. We have to be united. Why to get cheap popularity on these occasions,” the court said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the professor, told the court that the petitioner’s wife was nine months pregnant. The Additional Solicitor General pointed out that Mahmudabad’s post was not as innocent as projected by Sibal. “You should know what is happening. There is right to free speech etc…Where is the duty? As if the whole country for the last 75 years is only distributing rights and no duty,” the court said in strong remarks.
