Ashoka University’s Associate Professor (Political Science) Ali Khan Mahmudabad. Photo: X/@Mahmudabad
A local court at Haryana’s Sonipat on Tuesday (May 20, 2025) remanded to judicial custody Ali Khan Mahmudabad, Associate Professor of Political Science, Ashoka University, rejecting the State Police’s plea to extend Mr. Mahmudabad’s police custody by another seven days. The court has fixed May 27 as the next date of hearing.
Mr. Mahmudabad was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Azad Singh on the completion of his two days in police remand in a case pertaining to comments made by him on social media on Operation Sindoor.
The police had sought the extension of his custody for a week’s time on the grounds that his passport had to be recovered from Lucknow to ascertain details of his visits to foreign countries, and that a record of his communication via social media had to be obtained.
Arguing on behalf of Mr. Mahmudabad, counsels Kapil Balyan and Mohammad Chand Hussain submitted that the details of Mr. Mahmudabad’s passport had already been provided to the police, and his original passport would be submitted to the investigating officer by 5 p.m. on May 21.
Opposing the extension of police custody, the counsels argued that the call details, and the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory on data from his mobile phone and laptop, were yet to be received, and therefore, there was no need for police remand at this stage.
Dismissing the application made by the police, the court observed that the requisite details were yet to be received by the investigating agency, and the investigating officer could move a fresh application for remand at a later stage, if required. Mr. Mahmudabad will be produced in court via video conferencing on May 27.
Mr. Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 after two separate First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against him at the Rai police station. The court had on Sunday remanded him in to two days in police custody in one of the cases, and sent him to judicial custody in the second case. The two separate FIRs were filed by the Haryana State Commission for Women Chairperson Renu Bhatia, and Jathedi sarpanch Yogesh Jathedi, respectively, and were based on similar allegations.
Nagrik Adhikar Manch Sonipat, a civil rights forum, holds a protest against the arrest of Ali Khan Mahmudabad.
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Special Arrangement
Meanwhile, a meeting was held at Chhotu Ram Dharamshala in Sonipat under the aegis of the Nagrik Adhikar Manch Sonipat, a civil rights forum, in protest against the arrest of Mr. Mahmudabad. At the meeting chaired by Shraddhanand Solanki, the speakers said the Associate Professor had the constitutional right to present his views, and by arresting him on “false and baseless” charges, the government had violated his rights. Demanding the quashing of the FIRs and the immediate release of Mr. Mahmudabad, the members of the group also presented a memorandum of their demands to the Deputy Commissioner.
The forum’s convenor, advocate Kapil Balyan, said there was a need to create public awareness and pressurise the government by agitating for Mr. Mahmudabad’s release.
Published – May 20, 2025 06:19 pm IST
