According to local media reports, more than a week after two nuclear-weapon neighbors agreed to a ceasefire, a professor at an elite private liberal university in India was arrested for social media posts.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Ahsoka University, was arrested on Sunday in the criminal law section, which is related to behavior, bias and the incitement and religious beliefs of maintaining community harmony, incitement to armed insurgency or subversive activities.
Mahmudabad, 42, was arrested in the New Delhi capital, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the university, in Sonepat, Haryana state, a police officer told the Indian Express.
A report from online publication Scroll.in cited Mahmudabad's lawyers on Sunday, saying the case against him was based on a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, a youth school in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana.
The arrest came days after the Haryana Women’s Commission convened Mahmudabad to comment on India’s daily briefing in Pakistan’s military operations and Pakistan-managed Kashmir. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Armed Forces and wing commander Vyomika Singh released a media briefing on Operation Sindoor on May 6.
In a Facebook post on May 8, Mahmudabad once said: "I'm glad to see so many right-wing commentators applaud Colonel Sophia sophia Qureishi, but maybe they could also call for mob lynching equally loudly, victims of arbitrary Bulllldsing, while others are victims of BJP hatred protected by Indian citizens of India.
“It is important to propose the optics of the two women soldiers who discovered it, but the optics must be translated into reality, otherwise it is just hypocritical.”
The post mentioned Qureishi, a Muslim officer in the Indian army, and launched attacks on Muslims, including lynching and destroying their houses, without due process.
The Haryana Women's Commission said on Monday that the professor's statement "demeaned women's officials in the Indian armed forces and promoted public disharmony" and summoned him, local media reported.
Mahmudabad defended his comment and said on X that they were misunderstood.
"If anything, my entire comment is to safeguard the lives of citizens and soldiers. Moreover, there is nothing in my comment that can be interpreted as anti-female remarks."
In February last year, the human rights group International Rights Organization urged the government to prevent the "unjust demolition of Muslim property."
“It is cruel and shocking that the illegal demolition of Muslim property by Indian authorities, peddled by political leaders and the media as ‘bulldozer justice’. This displacement and deprivation is deeply injustice, illegal and discriminatory. They must destroy the family immediately.”
“The authorities have destroyed homes, businesses or places of worship through targeted campaigns of targeted hatred, harassment, violence and weaponization of JCB bulldozers. These human rights violations must be addressed urgently,” she said in a statement.
India's Supreme Court has ordered the cessation of so-called bulldozer justice, but that has not prevented authorities from ignoring due process.
BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has also been accused of allowing far-right Hindu guard groups to act without punishment. They lynched Muslims and tried to regulate the relationship between beliefs. Modi talked about opposing the cattle vigilant killing, but his government has barely stopped the activities of vigil groups.
My statement is a subpoena I received from the Haryana Women’s Commission.
Misunderstood and objected posts are accessible on my Facebook page. pic.twitter.com/u4rzraxhfx
-Ali Khan Mahmudabad (@mahmudabad) May 14, 2025
Professors and activists across the country have expressed support for Mahmudabad.
An open letter released on Friday, which released about 1,200 signatories said: "It is obvious that Professor Khan praised the strategic restrictions of the armed forces, analyzing any distinction between terrorists or non-state actors and Pakistani troops, has now gone bankrupt, and said that media officials in the media lineup are still "important" and that "our important inspiration" is "our important inspiration" that we have established, and that this is our secret proven, and that it is consistent.
The truce between India and Pakistan was announced on May 10, suspending missiles and drones to attack their common borders for several days. Pakistan said at least 31 people were killed during the strike in India, while India said at least 15 people were killed in Pakistan's counterattack.