“No case of staying the investigation is made out” ruled the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, while granting interim bail to the academic arrested for a social media post by Haryana government.
The court also restricted him from foreign travel, warned him against posting or saying anything online and directed the SIT, comprising three IPS officers, to understand the “propensity of the words used”.
The apex court also warned students and academics against escalating their actions in defence of the academic.
In addition to the terms and conditions of the CJM, the court directed that the petitioner “shall not write any online article or make any online speech related to both the posts which are subject matter of investigation”.
Issuing a stern warning to academics and students defending the posts and protesting against the arrest of Prof. Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the court observed, “Today only we read in paper, the students and professors... if they dare to do anything, we will not accept this. If they try to join hands etc., we know how to deal with these people; they are within our jurisdiction,” reports Live Law.
The Ashoka University professor was arrested over his social media posts about Operation Sindoor on 18 May and was remanded to judicial custody till 27 May on Tuesday, 20 may.
The court directed the Haryana DGP to constitute within 24 hours a Special Investigation Team — comprising senior IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi and including one woman officer mandatorily — to investigate and understand the true meaning of the posts. The SIT should be headed by an IG rank officer and the other two members must be of SP rank.
As a condition of interim bail, the Court has restrained Ali Khan Mahmudabad from writing any posts or articles in relation to the social media posts which are the subject matter of the case or from expressing any opinion in relation to the terrorist attack on Indian soil or the counter-response given by India. The Court also directed him to join and fully cooperate with the investigation. He has been directed to surrender his passport.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N.K. Singh clarified that the interim bail is granted to facilitate further investigation.
After the order was dictated, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, requested the court to restrain the registration of further FIRs on the same issue. “Nothing will happen,” Justice Kant orally said.
While Kapil Sibal read out the posts to the bench and said, “This is a highly patriotic statement,” the Bench seemed unmoved by his argument.
Referring to Prof Khan’s comments about “right-wing commentators applauding Colonel Sofiya Qureshi” and his statement that right-wing commentators must equally express concerns for victims of mob lynching, bulldozing, etc., Justice Kant said, “So after commenting about war, he turned to politics!”
Justice Surya Kant went on to observe, “Everybody has a right to express free speech. But is it the time to talk of this much communal...? The country has faced a big challenge. Monsters came all the way and attacked our innocents. We were staying united. But at this juncture... why to gain cheap popularity on this occasion?”
Justice Kant added, “This is what we call in the law: dog whistling!”
The social media posts had no "criminal intent", pointed out Mahmudabad’s advocate Sibal. He highlighted that the petitioner said that the press briefing on Operation Sindoor showed that the logic on which Pakistan was built has failed and that the post ended with ‘Jai Hind’.
Justice Kant then asked additional solicitor general S.V. Raju, representing the state of Haryana, whether the comments had the effect of insulting women army officers. ASG Raju replied that the post was not as innocent as projected by Sibal.
Justice Surya Kant is next to the Chief Justice of India in seniority and is expected to serve as CJI from November 2025 to February 2027, following the retirement of the present chief justice, .
