The Haryana government on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will not grant sanction to prosecute Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad in the case pertaining to his comments about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor, Live Law reported.
The decision, described as a “one-time magnanimity” was communicated to the court by Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi then quashed the criminal proceedings against Mahmudabad.
The court, however, cautioned the professor to act “prudently” in the future.
“Sometimes writing in between the lines creates more problems,” Bar and Bench quoted Kant as saying. “Sometimes the situation is so sensitive that we all have to be careful. Petitioner being a highly learned person shall act in a prudent manner in the future.”
Mahmudabad, who heads the political science department at Ashoka University, had been booked in May for a social media post highlighting the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had represented the Indian Army during the press briefings.
He had said that the optics of the press briefings by Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh were important, “but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it’s just hypocrisy”.
“Perhaps they [commentators] could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens,” he had said.
Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 but was granted bail by the Supreme Court three days later.
However, the court had at the time declined to halt the investigation against him. It had also instructed the Haryana Police chief to form a special investigation team to look into the meaning of the words used by Mahmudabad.
The first case in the matter was filed based on a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, general secretary of the BJP’s state Yuva Morcha, invoking provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to promoting enmity, prejudicial assertions affecting national integration and acts endangering India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity.
The second FIR, lodged by Haryana Women’s Commission Chairperson Renu Bhatia, invoked provisions pertaining to public mischief, deliberate actions aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman, and endangering India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity.
On August 25, the Supreme Court restrained a magistrate from taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Haryana Police’s Special Investigation Team in the first case. It had also quashed all proceedings in the second first information report against Mahmudabad based on a police closure report.
On January 6, the Supreme Court had urged the state to reconsider the matter and decline prosecution.
The professor has maintained that his remarks had been “completely misunderstood” by the women’s commission and that its notice failed to explain how his posts were “contrary to the right of or laws for women”.
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