New Delhi: In a relief for Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail on Wednesday.
However, the top court refused to stay a probe against him over a controversial social media post on Operation Sindoor and directed the constitution of a three-member SIT, comprising senior IPS officers, within 24 hours to investigate the case.
Hearing the professor’s petition challenging his arrest, the Supreme Court asked him why he had made such posts when a military operation was ongoing.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh blasted the the timing of his remarks, and called it “dog whistling” and an attempt to get “cheap publicity”.
The court directed him not to make any social media post, or speak to the media.
The next date for hearing in the case was set for May 23.
Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 and sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Haryana court on Tuesday over his controversial post.
“I am very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding Colonel Sophia Qureshi, but perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens. The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is important, but optics must translate to reality on the ground, otherwise it’s just hypocrisy,” he stated in his post.
