Supreme Court Grants Interim Bail To Ali Khan Mahmudabad
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad. However, the court refuses to halt the ongoing investigation.
The Bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh instructed the constitution of a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the charges against the Professor. The SIT need to be constituted by the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) by tomorrow (May 22), the Court added.
Also Read | Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad Arrested For Remark On Operation Sindoor Press Briefing
Meanwhile, on Tuesday (May 20), a district court in Sonepat sent Professor to judicial custody, denying the police request for custody. It denied the State Police’s request to extend Mahmudabad’s police custody by another seven days.
Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 by Haryana Police over social media comments regarding Operation Sindoor. Two FIRs were lodged under rigorous charges against him; one based on a complaint from the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on the complaint of Yogesh Jatheri, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s youth wing. The Professor was produced before a local court in Sonipat on May 18, where he was remanded in police custody for two days in one case, and sent to judicial custody in another.
Also Read | What Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad Said In His Post
During the hearing, Sibal argued that the social media posts do not create any communal tensions opposed to what has been accused in the FIRs against him. Besides, he informed the Bench that Mahmudabad’s wife is 9 months pregnant.
