Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the Ashoka University Professor arrested for remarks on Operation Sindoor?

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who teaches Political Science at Haryana-based Ashoka University, was on 18 May arrested for his remarks regarding press briefings on Operation Sindoor.

The arrest was based on a complaint filed by Yogesh Jatheri, the general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Yuva Morcha in Haryana, reports said quoting his lawyers. Jatheri, the village sarpanch from Sonipat, filed the complaint on 17 May. 

Ali, 42, was arrested under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) that deal with desition and insulting religious beliefs, family sources said. One of the charges against him is Section 152 of the BNS, which replaced the sedition law in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and criminalises acts that endanger the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India. The section prohibits inciting or attempting to incite secession, armed rebellion, or subversive activities, or encouraging separatist feelings

“Ali Khan Mahmudabad, associate professor at private university in Haryana, arrested for his remarks on Operation Sindoor,” a police official told news agency PTI. No more details were available about the arrest. 

“Haryana police has illegally arrested Dr Ali Khan. Taken to Haryana from Delhi without transit remand. FIR at 8 PM. Police reached his home the next morning at 7 AM,” Delhi University professor Apoorvanand said in a post on X. 
 “The Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court must intervene. Please see the Pravir Purkayastha judgment of the Supreme Court,” he said.

The academician was picked up from his South Delhi at around 6.30 am in the morning and taken to Haryana was produced at a local police station in the national capital, said family sources. He was later sent to a two-day remand by the court. 

Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad?

Ali Khan Mahmudabad a historian, political scientist, writer, poet and a faculty at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. 

Born in Lucknow on December, 2, 1982, Ali is the son of Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan, popularly known as Raja Sahab Mahmudabad, who spent about forty in a legal battle to reclaim his ancestral property seized by the government under the Enemy Properties Act. Raja Saheb passed away in October 2023.

Ali's father was the only son of Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad and long-time treasurer and major financier of the Muslim League before partition of India.

Ali's mother, Rani Vijay is the daughter of Padma Bhushan Jagat Singh Mehta, who served as India’s Foreign Secretary from 1976-79, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the External Affairs Minister.

Ali did his his early schooling from La Martiniere school, Lucknow. Later, he went to England to study at King's College School till 1996. He graduated Winchester College in 2001. Ali obtained his MPhil and PhD in Historical Studies from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. 

PhD from Cambridge, Arabic from Damascus

Before his PhD from Cambridge, Ali studied Arabic at the University of Damascus in Syria. He regularly wrote about Syria for various print and online newspapers based in his travels in the region. He has also spent substantial time in Iran and Iraq amongst other places. His works based on his travel have appeared in reputed publications includint the the National Geographic magazine.

Ali teaches political science and history at Ashoka University. He is currently Head of the Department of Political Science, where he is employed as Associate Professor. 

Will continue to cooperate: Ashoka

Ashoka University confirmed Ali's arrest and said it will continue to cooperate with Police.  “We have been made aware that Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been taken into police custody earlier today. We are in the process of ascertaining details of the case. The University will continue to cooperate with the Police and local authorities in the investigation, fully," the university said in a statement. 

Ali'S spouse is niece of Haseeb Drabu, former minister in Jammu and Kashmir. Ali had joined the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

What did Ali Khan say?

Ali has been arrested days after Haryana women's commission summoned him for his alleged remarks on Facebook that the Commission said "disparaged women officers in the Indian Armed Forces and promoted communal disharmony”.

The Commisison took suo motu cognisance of his social media posts following Operation Sindoor on May 7.

In one of the two social media posts on May 8, Ali had highlighted the ‘irony’ of 'right wing' commentators praising Colonel Sofia Qureshi, who had represented the Army during media briefings about Indian military operations against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. 

In the post, Ali had called out the 'blind bloodlust for war'  and raised concerns over the human cost of armed conflict while stressing that the “optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings” after India’s military action was important but “optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it’s just hypocrisy.”

After the summons, Ali said in a public statement mentioning that his posts were ‘misunderstood' .’ Slamming the summons that he had received, the Ashoka University professor commented, “This is a new form of censorship and harassment, which invents issues where there are none”.

On May 7 morning, India conducted strikes on terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan, two weeks after the brutal killing of 26 civilians in Pahalgam. The strikes by India since 7 May were coined ‘Operation Sindoor.’

After the operation in the morning of May 7, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri briefed the nation regarding India's missile strikes into Pakistan and PoK during midnight targetting nine terror camps as part of Operation Sindoor.