By Scroll Staff
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.
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