A Sonepat court has sent Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad to judicial custody over his Facebook post on India’s Operation Sindoor. His arrest has sparked outrage, with many calling it a crackdown on free speech.
A court in Sonepat, Haryana, on Tuesday sent Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor at Ashoka University, to judicial custody in connection with a Facebook post he made about ‘Operation Sindoor’.
This move came after Haryana Police arrested him and sought an extension of his police custody, which was denied by the court.
Professor Mahmudabad was arrested from Delhi on Sunday and was earlier kept in police custody for two days. On Tuesday, he was brought before Judicial Magistrate Azad Singh.
According to sources who attended the remand hearing, the police requested seven more days of custody to continue their investigation.
However, the judge refused this request and ordered that Mahmudabad be sent to judicial custody instead. This development was confirmed to Bar and Bench by Mahmudabad’s lawyer, Kapil Dev Balyan.
A petition challenging Mahmudabad’s arrest is expected to be heard by the Supreme Court later this week.
His arrest has caused a major uproar, with many people criticizing it as a serious attack on the freedom of speech.
The case against Professor Mahmudabad began after he made a Facebook post about ‘Operation Sindoor’.
This was the name given to India’s cross-border military operation against Pakistan, following a terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22. In his post, Mahmudabad wrote:
“With Operation Sindoor, India had sent a message to Pakistan that, ‘if you don’t deal with your terrorism problem then we will!'”
He went on to criticize those who blindly support war without thinking about its effects.
He wrote:
“The loss of civilian life is tragic on both sides and is the main reason why war should be avoided. There are those who are mindlessly advocating for a war but they have never seen one let alone lived in or visited a conflict zone …”
In the same post, Mahmudabad commented on how right-wing commentators in India were praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who led the media briefing on Operation Sindoor.
He asked them to also speak up against issues like mob lynchings and illegal demolitions.
He wrote:
“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,” he said.
Following his post, Mahmudabad was called by the Haryana State Commission for Women.
The Chairperson of the Commission, Renu Bhatia, claimed that his remarks were an insult to women in the armed forces like Colonel Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh.
She said that his words were an attempt to weaken the image of professional women officers in India’s defence services.
In reply to these accusations, Mahmudabad posted a public statement on X (formerly Twitter), in which he denied all charges and clarified his views.
He said:
“There was nothing even remotely misogynistic in my comments.”
He also explained the intention behind his post, saying:
“I have used my academic training and public voice to advocate for peace due to the high cost of war. At the same time I have analysed and commented on the manner in which ‘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 have condemned the use of terrorists by the Pakistani military to destabilise the region. In fact in my analysis I have shown that this puts ‘the onus on the Pakistani military to make sure it cannot hide any longer behind terrorists and non-state actors.’ I further added that the Pak military has used these tactics ‘to destabilise the region for far too long.’ Animated by a profound moral commitment to minimising the human cost of armed conflict, my statements solely express concern over the rhetorical excesses and reckless warmongering exhibited by certain sections of the civilian public,” he explained.
Even though he clarified his stand, Renu Bhatia’s comments led to the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against him. This FIR was the basis for his arrest.
A second FIR has also been filed against Professor Mahmudabad, based on a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, who is the General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and the sarpanch of Jatheri village in Haryana.
Currently, Mahmudabad is in judicial custody in connection with this second case as well.
This case has raised important questions about the limits of free speech, especially in matters involving national security and social commentary.
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