Criminal charges against Ashoka University professor outrageous and absurd, say ex-bureaucrats

Invoking criminal charges against Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was “outrageous and absurd”, a group of retired bureaucrats and diplomats said on Wednesday.

The former civil servants, who are part of the Constitutional Conduct Group, said that the social media posts for which two cases were filed against Mahmudabad were thoughtful and measured. The key point of the posts was “to make eloquent and heartfelt calls for peace”, they noted.

The cases against Mahmudabad, who heads the political science department at Ashoka University, were filed for his comments about the media briefings on the Indian military operation against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir initiated in the response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack.

On May 8, in a social media post, Mahmudabad had highlighted the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had represented the Army during the media briefings about the Indian military operation.

“Perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens,” he had said.

One of the complainants against the post was an office-bearer of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, while the other was the head of the Haryana State Women’s Commission.

Mahmudabad faces charges...

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