NHRC takes cognisance of Mahmudabad's arrest

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday took suo motu cognisance of the arrest and custody remand of Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, citing potential violations of his "human rights and liberty".

- Ayesha Arvind

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, arrested by the Haryana police for his social media posts on Operation Sindoor — India's military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The court, however, refused to stay the investigation against him.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the Haryana police chief to constitute a three-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by an inspector general (IG) rank officer, also including a superintendent (SP) rank woman officer, within 24 hours to investigate the case, particularly the academician's "intent" behind his social media posts that led to two FIRs against him.