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

Court extends interim bail granted to prof on May 21, says no need for him to appear again for questioning before SIT

- Abraham Thomas

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 Knan Mahmudabad on Operation Sindoor and called for a report within four weeks.

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 it said should have required just two days and not two months.