The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India on Wednesday said that it has taken suo motu cognizance of Ashoka University Professor's arrest over his post on Operation Sindoor.
"The Commission has noted that the report, which contains a gist of the allegations on the basis of which he has been arrested, discloses, prima facie, that the human rights and liberty of the said Professor have been violated. Therefore, it has deemed it to be a fit case for taking suo motu cognizance of the reported incident," said NHRC in its statement.
Accordingly, the commission has issued a notice to the Director General of Police, Haryana, calling for a detailed report in the matter within one week.The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ali Khan Mahmudabad, associate professor and head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University in Haryana, who was arrested over a social media post on Operation Sindoor.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh refused to stay the two FIRs registered by Haryana Police against him, saying he has not made out any case for a stay on investigation. However, the bench released him on interim bail."We direct the petitioner to be released on interim bail subject to furnishing of bail bonds to the satisfaction of the CJM Sonepat," ordered the bench while imposing certain conditions on his release.The apex court restrained the associate professor from making any further online posts or speeches on the issue. No article or online posts are to be made, nor will any speech be delivered on the subject matter of the case.
Further, he was retrained from making any comments on the terrorist attack on Indian soil or the counter-response given by India. The bench also asked him to surrender his passport.It also ordered constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within 24 hours to probe the matter. The top court directed that the SIT will be comprised of senior IPS officers, who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi and one officer of the SIT should be a woman. The SIT should be headed by an Inspector General rank officer and the other two members must be of SP rank.
"Having regard to contents of two alleged offending online posts which led to FIR against the petitioner, we are satisfied that no case of staying the investigation is made out. However, to understand the complexity and for proper appreciation of the language used in the post, we direct DGP Haryana to constitute a SIT comprising of three IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi. SIT shall be headed by Inspector General of police and one of the members shall be a woman officer," the order stated.
Perinently, TMC MP Mohua Moitra while speaking to a newspaper ripped apart what she alleged dual standards of BJP in targetting Muslims and giving raw deal to 'foul mouthed' politicians while commenting on Op Sindhoor. She was citing the liberal approach in dealing with a MP minister on the same analogy in contrast to what she said harsh treatment meted out to Ali Mahmudabad, Professor in Ashoka University despite latter's sound educational background and lienage of global academic records.
Mahmudabad was arrested from his residence in Delhi by Haryana Police on Sunday and remanded to two-day police custody following the registration of two separate cases. He was charged with, among other things, endangering India's sovereignty, unity and integrity for his comments on Operation Sindoor.
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