A day after the Centre introduced that the Opposition can be a part of the worldwide outreach on Operation Sindoor, the Haryana Police Sunday arrested Ali Khan Mahmudabad, affiliate professor and head of the Division of Political Science at Ashoka College in Sonipat, for remarks he posted on social media that, an FIR alleged, “disparaged girls officers within the Indian Armed Forces and promoted communal disharmony”.
Sonipat DCP (Crime) Narinder Kadian mentioned Mahmudabad was arrested in Delhi primarily based on two separate FIRs lodged on complaints acquired from the Haryana State Fee for Ladies chairperson Renu Bhatia and Jatheri village sarpanch Yogesh Jatheri who can also be the final secretary of BJP Yuva Morcha within the state.
Each the FIRs discuss with a submit by Mahmudabad, a Samajwadi Occasion member and former spokesperson, on Might 8 during which he mentioned the optics of the media briefing on Operation Sindoor by girls officers — Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wg Cdr Vyomika Singh — was “essential” however can be “hypocrisy” if it didn’t “translate to actuality on the bottom”.
DCP Kadian mentioned the FIRs had been lodged on the Rai police station in Sonipat below numerous sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The FIR, primarily based on the grievance of Bhatia, has been lodged below sections 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 79 (phrase, gesture or act supposed to insult modesty of a lady) and 152 (act endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India).
The FIR on Jatheri’s grievance was lodged below part 196(1)(b) (selling enmity between totally different teams on grounds of faith), 197(1)(c) (assertions prejudicial to nationwide integration), 152 (act endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India) and 299 (malicious act supposed to outrage spiritual emotions).
The police produced Mahmudabad earlier than a neighborhood court docket later and obtained remand for 2 days.
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Sunday’s arrest was sharply criticised by Opposition leaders — from TMC to RJD and AIMIM — who described the police transfer as “deplorable” and “completely condemnable”. The Opposition additionally referred to remarks made on Might 12 by Madhya Pradesh Tribal Affairs Minister Vijay Shah that India taught a lesson to these liable for the Pahalgam terror assault utilizing “their very own sister (unki samaj ki behen ke zariye)” in an oblique reference to Col Qureshi. They identified that no motion was taken in opposition to Shah.
In an inside electronic mail circulated Sunday, the Committee for Educational Freedom (CAF) at Ashoka College known as the arrest “disproportionate punishment made on flimsy grounds” and “a elementary assault on tutorial freedom”.
The important thing portion of Mahmudabad’s submit reads: “I’m very glad to see so many proper wing commentators applauding Colonel Sophia Qureishi however maybe they might additionally equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who’re victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian residents. The optics of two girls troopers presenting their findings is essential however optics should translate to actuality on the bottom in any other case it’s simply hypocrisy.”
In conclusion, he wrote: “For me the press convention was only a fleeting glimpse — an phantasm and allusion perhaps- to an India that defied the logic on which Pakistan was constructed. As I mentioned, the grassroots actuality that frequent Muslims face is totally different from what the federal government tried to point out however on the similar time the press convention reveals that an India, united in its variety, shouldn’t be utterly useless as an concept.”
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Following the submit, the Haryana girls’s fee issued a discover to Mahmudabad on Might 12, claiming his remarks had been “an try and vilify nationwide navy actions”. Two days later, Mahmudabad issued a press release saying that his remarks had been “utterly misunderstood”. “Opposite to the allegations, my submit appreciated the truth that the armed forces selected Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh for the press convention to spotlight that the dream of the founders of our Republic, of an India united in its variety, remains to be alive,” he had posted.
In her police grievance, Bhatia accused the professor of “utilizing the narrative of struggle” when struggle had not been formally declared and calling a political celebration “a hate mongering entity”.
In line with DCP Kadian, Sarpanch Jatheri’s grievance said that Mahmudabad’s remarks “deeply damage him” on a “private” degree. Jatheri was not accessible for remark. Haryana BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma mentioned safety companies had been “taking motion as applicable for the safety of the nation”.
Ashoka College had final week distanced itself from Mahmudabad’s submit, saying “they don’t symbolize the opinion of the college”. On Sunday, the college mentioned it should “proceed to cooperate with the Police and native authorities within the investigation, totally.”
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Samajwadi Occasion nationwide spokesperson Abdul Hafeez Gandhi instructed The Indian Categorical that Mahmudabad “is being unfairly focused for exercising his constitutional proper to free speech”.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi known as the arrest “completely condemnable”. “This targets a person for his opinions; his submit wasn’t anti-national or misogynistic. A mere grievance by a BJP employee made Haryana police take motion,” mentioned Owaisi.
Mahmudabad acquired his PhD from Cambridge researching Muslim identification formation in North India between 1850 and 1950, with a give attention to mushairah (poetic symposium) and evolving notions of watan (homeland). He has additionally written on transnational Shia networks, studied Arabic in Damascus, and carried out fieldwork throughout Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq and Yemen.
Former Union Minister and senior Congress chief Salman Khurshid, one of many Opposition leaders who can be a part of the delegation on Op Sindoor, instructed The Indian Categorical: “I don’t have all the main points concerning the FIR in opposition to him, however I can say that he and his household have been very distinguished folks and nothing illegal could be related to them.”
(With Vidheesha Kuntamalla)