Not the right time...: How SC responded to Ashoka University prof Mahmudabads travel request
Mahmudabad is facing two FIRs by Haryana Police over posts linked to Operation Sindoor, the military response to the Pahalgam terror attack. In October, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail and ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine the content of the two posts that triggered the FIRs.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to allow Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad to travel abroad while his petition challenging FIRs filed by the Haryana Police over his social media posts on Operation Sindoor remains under investigation.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and NK Singh briefly took up Mahmudabad's plea, in which he also sought the return of his passport -- surrendered earlier as a condition of the interim bail granted to him by the court. When Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for Mahmudabad, raised the request, Justice Surya Kant responded with a wry remark: "This is not the right time to travel." The matter was then adjourned.
Mahmudabad is facing two FIRs by Haryana Police over posts linked to Operation Sindoor, the military response to the Pahalgam terror attack. In October, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail and ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to examine the content of the two posts that triggered the FIRs.
Bench expresses concern over widening scope of inquiry
However, during subsequent hearings, the bench expressed concern that the SIT appeared to be widening the scope of its inquiry. Investigators had seized Mahmudabad's electronic devices and were questioning him about a decade of international travel -- actions the court said went beyond the limited mandate of reviewing his posts. The apex court then directed the SIT to restrict itself to the specific posts and complete the investigation within four weeks.
Earlier, Haryana Police informed the court that it had filed a closure report in one of the FIRs and a chargesheet in the other. The Court quashed the FIR associated with the closure report and placed an interim bar on the magistrate taking cognisance of the remaining chargesheet.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Mahmudabad earlier, also questioned the application of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) -- the provision intended to replace the erstwhile sedition law -- pointing out that its constitutional validity is still under consideration by the Supreme Court.
SC declines to modify bail conditions imposed earlier
The Court has also declined to modify two bail conditions imposed earlier: Mahmudabad remains barred from posting, writing or speaking publicly about the two contentious posts under investigation, as well as from commenting on terrorist attacks in India or the military's response to them.
Mahmudabad, an associate professor and head of political science at Ashoka University, was booked after posting a tweet urging right-wing commentators who praised Colonel Sofiya Qureshi for Operation Sindoor to show equal empathy toward victims of mob lynching and other injustices he linked to divisive politics.