‘Dog whistling, cheap popularity’: Supreme Court’s scathing observations while granting interim bail to Ashoka University Professor

Ali Khan Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 and was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Haryana court on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ashoka University Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad over his controversial post on Operation Sindoor but refused to stay the investigation into the case.

The apex court also restrained the professor from making any comments regarding terrorist attacks on India or the counter-response given by India. The Supreme Court also ordered him to surrender his passport, according to ANI.

Here are some key observations made by the top court while hearing the case.

The top court directed Mahmudabad not to write any online article or make any online speech related to both posts, which are subject matter of investigation. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotisar Singh, while hearing the matter, asked, "Why try to gain cheap popularity?"

"We direct the petitioner to be released on interim bail... Having regard to the contents of two alleged offending online posts, we are satisfied that no case for staying the investigation is made out,” the court said.

The court also questioned Mahmudabad's choice of words. "Although everybody has the right to freedom of expression, statements by Mahmudabad are what is called dog whistling in law," said the top court. "At the time when so many things were happening in the country, where was the occasion for him to use these kinds of words which could be insulting, humiliating and putting others in discomfort. He is a learned man; he cannot be said to be short of words."

The top court also directed the Haryana top cop to constitute within 24 hours a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising senior IPS officers for a further probe. However, the court said the officers should not be from Haryana or Delhi and one should be a woman.

"To understand the complexity and for proper appreciation of the language used in the post, we direct DGP Haryana to constitute a SIT comprising three IPS officers who do not belong to Haryana or Delhi," the bench said.

Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18 and was sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Haryana court on Tuesday. He was arrested after two FIRs were lodged on stringent charges, including endangering sovereignty and integrity, for his social media posts related to Operation Sindoor.

Mahmudabad, 42, currently heads the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University in Sonipat, Haryana.  The charges against him include provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for inciting rebellion, disturbing communal harmony, and insulting religious sentiments, according to reports.