Ashoka University associate professor arrested for remarks against Operation Sindoor

Sonipat (Haryana) |Ashoka Univeristy associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested for his social media post on Operation Sindoor, police said here on Sunday.

The action was taken on a complaint by a BJP Yuva Morcha leader.

"Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested from Delhi," Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Rai, Ajeet Singh said over phone.

He has been arrested in connection with some comments connected with Operation Sindoor, he said.

The arrest comes days after the Haryana State Commission for Women sent a notice to the associate professor over his Operation Sindoor remarks.

The May 12 notice mentioned that the panel has taken suo motu cognisance of the "public statements/remarks" made "on or about May 7" by Mahmudabad, the head of the political science department of the Ashoka University in Sonipat.

"We salute the country's daughters -- Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. But the kind of words the professor who teaches political science has used for them... I expected that he would at least present himself before the commission today and express regret," Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia had said.

Mahmudabad's remarks had been annexed to the Commission's notice, and in one of them, he said that right-wing people applauding Col Qureshi should demand protection for victims of mob lynchings and "arbitrary" bulldozing of properties.

The associate professor described the media briefings by Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh as "optics". "But optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it's just hypocrisy," he had said.

The Commission said an initial review of Mahmudabad's remarks has raised concerns about the "disparagement of women in uniform, including Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and undermining their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces".

Wing Commander Singh had briefed the media alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Col Qureshi on Operation Sindoor.

Indian armed forces hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7 under Operation Sindoor in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Ashoka University, in a statement, had said, "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," it said.

The associate professor had later said that the Commission has "misread" his comment.

"...I am surprised that the Women's Commission, while overreaching its jurisdiction, has misread and misunderstood my posts to such an extent that they have inverted their meaning," Mahmudabad, had said on X.