Students at Ashoka University have joined their faculty in demanding the immediate release of Dr Ali Khan Mahmudabad, head of the Political Science department, calling his arrest “wrongful” and an affront to the very ideals he championed in the classroom.
Haryana Police took Dr Mahmudabad into custody on Sunday, May 18, after two FIRs (First Information Reports) were filed at Rai police station, Sonipat, alleging that his social‑media posts about Operation Sindoor threatened India’s sovereignty and integrity.
The complaints were lodged separately by Haryana State Commission for Women chairperson Renu Bhatia and a local village sarpanch.
Students speak out
In a joint statement issued on Monday, May 19, enrollees of Mahmudabad’s popular elective ‘Banish the Poets’ said they “stand firmly united and in solidarity” with their professor.
“Throughout the course, Professor Khan lectured on love, consistently emphasising secular values such as reason, compassion, justice, and freedom of thought as the foundation of meaningful dialogue. His wrongful arrest is a stark violation of not just academic freedom but of the very principles he taught us — reason, compassion, justice and freedom of thought,” the students wrote.
They praised him as a “principled academic, brilliant orator, kind mentor and brave scholar”, adding that his classroom nurtured open discourse while instilling respect for the Constitution.
“Professor Khan always expected and taught us to question everything and form our own opinions. He never expressed any disrespect for our nation and its constitution, nor did he ever teach us such disrespect,” they added.
Faculty and wider backlash
The Ashoka University Faculty Association had already condemned the arrest on Sunday, calling the charges “groundless and untenable” and urging the authorities to drop them.
Leaders from the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have also criticised the police action, noting Mahmudabad’s assertion that his comments were “misunderstood” and fell squarely within his constitutional right to free speech.
With both faculty and students united, pressure is mounting on the Haryana government to justify the detention or release the professor and reaffirm the university’s commitment to academic freedom.