Ex-civil servants slam charges against Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad, calls arrest 'outrageous and absurd'

By A Representative 

In a strong and unequivocal statement, the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), comprising 79 retired civil servants, has condemned the arrest of Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Ashoka University under India’s new criminal code for his social media commentary on Operation Sindoor.

Professor Mahmudabad, a well-known political scientist, was arrested for two posts in which he expressed concern over the human cost of the India-Pakistan conflict, praised the restraint of the Indian Army, and called for peace. He also critiqued the symbolism of representation in the armed forces, cautioning that it would be hypocritical if violence and discrimination against minorities continued within the country.

In their open statement, the CCG described the charges against him—including those under Section 152 (endangering sovereignty), Section 196(1)(b) (disturbing communal harmony), and Section 299 (outraging religious feelings)—as “outrageous and absurd.”

“It cannot be a crime to seek justice for victims of lynching and bulldozer demolitions, or to call for peace and restraint,” the group asserted.

The group drew sharp contrasts between the treatment of Professor Mahmudabad and the inaction on more explicit and dangerous instances of hate speech in India. Highlighting the case of Madhya Pradesh Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, who likened Colonel Sofia Qureshi—a key figure in the army’s public communications—to "the sister of terrorists", the group pointed out that it took an MP High Court directive for police action to be initiated. The court termed the minister’s remarks “cancerous and dangerous.”

The CCG further criticized Ashoka University for its silence, despite widespread support for the professor from students and faculty, who protested his arrest and attended sit-ins at detention sites. A student statement called him “a compassionate and thoughtful teacher who taught his students respect for the values of secular democracy.”

Though the Supreme Court eventually granted Professor Mahmudabad interim bail, the CCG expressed concern over the court’s tone and conditions. The court ordered the surrender of his passport, prohibited him from making further public statements about India-Pakistan hostilities, and appointed a Special Investigation Team to “understand the complexity of the phraseology” in his posts.

“It is beyond our comprehension how three police officers could be equipped to extract hidden meanings from a post written in elegant and straightforward English,” the statement noted.

The court also rebuked students and academics for showing solidarity, warning ominously that it “knows how to handle them also”—a comment the CCG viewed as a threat to democratic expression.

Quoting from past Supreme Court judgments, including the Imran Pratapgarhi vs. State of Gujarat case, the group reminded the judiciary that even disliked speech must be “respected and protected” in a democracy. Justice Oka, in that judgment, had emphasized that “the views or thoughts expressed by an individual or group must be countered by expressing another point of view,” not suppressed.

In closing, the CCG echoed the words of journalist Saurav Das, warning that the current trajectory risks creating “a nation of intellectually dead citizens, where critical inquiry is replaced by rote repetition.”

“This is how a society dies,” Das had written. “Where the proliferation of free thought is choked, through a slow, judicially sanctioned suffocation of intellectual life.”

The CCG’s powerful rebuke ends with a solemn affirmation of democratic values: Satyameva Jayate.