Thought police: on a professor’s arrest Politics & News

In an unconscionable act, a professor of political science at Ashoka University, Ali Khan Mahmudabad, was arrested on Sunday by the Haryana Police after two separate first information reports (FIR) were registered against him in Sonipat. These FIRs were over his social media posts in connection with Operation Sindoor. The first message analysed the strategic reasons for India’s Operation Sindoor as it had to tackle a Pakistan regime — led by the military — that has sought to hide behind non-state actors while promoting terror in India. It also noted how the empanelment of Muslim military officers in India’s press briefings showcased the pluralist vision of the country, even though this was in contrast with the communal reality that Muslims face in many parts of India in recent years. The second post condemned the “blind bloodlust for war” by some netizens following the ceasefire, while arguing that only the world’s military-industrial complex benefited from war and that both Hindu and Islamic scriptures emphasised that patience and restraint are virtues in conflict. There is nothing objectionable in his posts that were lucid and patriotic calls for an inclusive India and evinced an understanding that India has been forced to target terror-hubs in Pakistan by removing the distinction between terrorists and the larger terrorist infrastructure backed by Pakistan’s military regime. The Haryana Police’s move was based on complaints by office-bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Yuva Morcha and the Haryana State Women Commission Chairperson Renu Bhatia, which said that the posts were disparaging to women in uniform and attributed malicious intent to the Indian government. This is plainly false, and there should have been little basis for the Haryana Police to have acted on these complaints, if they had cared to read and understand the clear messages in the posts.

It is also alarming that the arrests have been made on charges that are related to endangering the country’s sovereignty and integrity, and promoting enmity between different groups — akin to the charges of sedition levelled against dissidents in the recent past. Too often, and very wrongly, the charge of sedition has been used by law enforcement agencies across India to quell dissent and the professor’s travails are symptomatic of a pernicious trend in recent years, especially in States ruled by the BJP. His arrest is also a reflection of the worsening state of academic freedoms, where critical understanding and reflections in institutes of higher education on the policies and the actions of the state and governments have been frowned upon and even criminalised in some cases. On Monday, the Supreme Court of India agreed to urgently hear the professor’s case against his arrest. The Court must reiterate the importance of the freedom of expression and come down heavily on law enforcement agencies that misuse powers to slap serious charges related to sedition, on frivolous grounds.

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