‘Attack on academic freedom’: Ashoka University body condemns arrest of professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad over Op Sindoor remarks

Reacting to the arrest of Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a professor at the Sonipat-based Ashoka University, a student of the private university Sunday said Mahmudabad “has always been honest inside and outside the classroom. He's never hidden his views.”“He's originally from Lucknow and keeps going up and down between Delhi and Lucknow, but he’s always been dedicated to his students and his work,” the student added.

- GNS News Agency

Ali Knan Mahmudabad, the head of the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University, was arrested by the Haryana Police in Delhi on Sunday, just days after he was served a show-cause notice over his social media remarks on Operation Sindoor.The arrest has triggered condemnation from across India’s academic community. The Haryana State Commission for Women, which issued the notice on May 12, alleged that Mahmudabad's comments “disparaged women officers in the Indian Armed Forces” and promoted “communal disharmony.” Police sources told The Indian Express that a First Information Report was registered based on a complaint by a BJP leader, though the specific charges have not yet been officially disclosed.In an internal email circulated Sunday afternoon, the Committee for Academic Freedom (CAF) at Ashoka University called the arrest “disproportionate punishment made on flimsy grounds,” and “a fundamental attack on academic freedom.”