Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad arrested over controversial Operation Sindoor remarks

Ashoka Univeristy associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested for his social media post on Operation Sindoor, police said here on Sunday. The action was taken on a complaint by a BJP Yuva Morcha leader.

"Ali Khan Mahmudabad has been arrested from Delhi," Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Rai, Ajeet Singh said over phone.

He has been arrested in connection with some comments connected with Operation Sindoor, he said


In a statement, the Ashoka University, said, "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," it said.

The arrest comes days after the Haryana State Commission for Women sent a notice to the associate professor over his Operation Sindoor remarks.

The May 12 notice mentioned that the panel has taken suo motu cognisance of the "public statements/remarks" made "on or about May 7" by Mahmudabad, the head of the political science department of the Ashoka University in Sonipat.

"We salute the country's daughters -- Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh. But the kind of words the professor who teaches political science has used for them... I expected that he would at least present himself before the commission today and express regret," Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia had said.

Mahmudabad's remarks had been annexed to the Commission's notice, and in one of them, he said that right-wing people applauding Col Qureshi should demand protection for victims of mob lynchings and "arbitrary" bulldozing of properties.

The associate professor described the media briefings by Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh as "optics". "But optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it's just hypocrisy," he had said.

The Commission said an initial review of Mahmudabad's remarks has raised concerns about the "disparagement of women in uniform, including Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh and undermining their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces".

Wing Commander Singh had briefed the media alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Col Qureshi on Operation Sindoor.

Indian armed forces hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early hours of May 7 under Operation Sindoor in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

The associate professor had earlier said that the Commission has "misread" his comment.

"...I am surprised that the Women's Commission, while overreaching its jurisdiction, has misread and misunderstood my posts to such an extent that they have inverted their meaning," Mahmudabad had said on X.

He had said that he had exercised his "fundamental right to freedom of thought and speech in order to promote peace and harmony and to applaud the Indian armed forces for their resolute action, while criticising those who preach hatred and seek to destabilise India".