"You Need Dictionary": Top Court To Team Probing Ashoka Professor's Post

Pulling up the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing a controversial social media post by Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the Supreme Court today said the academic need not be summoned again and asked why the SIT was "misdirecting itself".

The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi stressed that the scope of the probe is limited to the two FIRs filed against the professor and said he is now free to write on any subject other than the subjudice matter. The court asked why the SIT was misdirecting itself and asked it to complete the investigation within four weeks.

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, head of the political science department at Ashoka University, was arrested in May for a social media post on the government's choice of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh for Operation Sindoor briefings. The top court granted him bail days later with conditions: he will not write any article or online post or deliver any speech related to the case, he won't comment on the Pahalgam attack or Operation Sindoor and he will surrender his passport.

The professor's counsel, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, told the court today that the SIT also questioned Mr Mahmudabad about the places he had travelled to in the past 10 years. The court told the government counsel that the probe has to be in the "right direction".

"We state that petitioner is free to write any online posts or articles except commenting on the subjudice matter. Interim orders against petitioner to continue," it said in the order.

The court said the SIT was set up for "holistic understanding of the phraseology employed and for proper appreciation of the expressions contained in the two social media posts". It underlined that the SIT's probe must be confined to the contents of the two FIRs.

"Not for us to comment where the SIT is headed and is processing. We, however, remind the SIT of the mandate in our order dated May 28. We direct that the probe with reference to the contents of the two social media posts as early as possible but not later than 4 weeks," the court said. "It seems to us that it is not needed to summon the petitioner again to join the investigation," it added.

When the state's counsel said if the professor may be asked to join the investigation at any point, Justice Kant had a sharp response: "You do not need him, you need a dictionary!"

In a social media post after Operation Sindoor, India's counterstrike after the Pahalgam terror attack, Ali Khan Mahmudabad had said he was happy to see right-wing commentators applauding the Colonel. "... but perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the BJP's hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens. The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is important but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it's just hypocrisy".

The post sparked a massive row, with the National Commission for Women saying that a review of Mr Khan's remarks raises concerns about the "disparagement of women in uniform, including Col Qureshi and Wing Commander Singh, and undermining their role as professional officers in the Indian Armed Forces".

The professor had said the women's panel "misunderstood" his remarks. "...I am surprised that the Women's Commission, while overreaching its jurisdiction, has misread and misunderstood my posts to such an extent that they have inverted their meaning," he said.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had flagged the professor's post and called it an attempt to get "cheap popularity". "Yes, everyone has the right to free speech and expression... Is it the time to talk about all of this? The country is already going through all this... monsters came and attacked our people... we have to be united. Why (do this) to get cheap popularity on these occasions?" Justice Kant had said.