SIT's probe off course: SC on Ashoka prof case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Haryana police's special investigation team (SIT) for “misdirecting” itself on the probe related to two social media posts by Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad on Operation Sindoor and called for a report within four weeks.

- Abraham Thomas

The court extended the interim bail granted to the professor on May 21 and ended the requirement for him to appear again for questioning before SIT. While the state objected to this direction, the court remarked, “You do not require him. You require a dictionary,” indirectly pointing to the inability of the SIT to determine criminality in the two online posts, a task that itsaid should have required just two days and not two months.

The order by the court came while considering an interim report submitted by the three-member SIT headed by Additional Director General of Police, Crime, Mamta Singh seeking an additional two months’ time to submit its report. The committee said that based on the forensic analysis of the devices submitted by the petitioner, it will require time to go through the material.