Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad was on Sunday arrested for his comments about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor based on a complaint by a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing, his lawyer confirmed to Scroll.

Mahmudabad has been arrested under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to acts prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony, making assertions likely to cause disharmony, inciting secession, armed rebellion or subversive activities and insulting religious beliefs.

The case was filed on Saturday at the Rai police station in Haryana’s Sonepat district based on a complaint by Yogesh Jatheri, general secretary of the BJP’s state Yuva Morcha. He is also the sarpanch of the Jatheri village.

Later on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Narender Kadian said that a separate FIR had also been filed based on a complaint by Haryana State Women’s Commission chairperson Renu Bhatia, IANS reported.

In the second FIR, Mahmudabad was booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita pertaining to public mischief, deliberate actions aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman, and endangering India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity, the news agency quoted Kadian as saying.

Ashoka University said on Sunday that it was aware that Mahmudabad was taken into police custody earlier in the day.

“We are in the process of ascertaining details of the case,” it said. “The university will continue to cooperate with the Police and local authorities in the investigation, fully.’’

The associate professor was picked up from his home in Delhi on Sunday morning, and is currently at the Rai police station, according to Ashoka University’s student newspaper The Edict. Faculty members of the university and activists have gathered at the police station seeking clarity on the arrest.

Jatheri, in his complaint, alleged that Mahmudabad “kept inciting sentiments and working to benefit external or foreign forces in the name of religion”.

“This [comment] was said by Ali Khan [Mahmudabad] in front of me, at that time four or five other people were also present,” Jatheri claimed, referring to the remarks he alleged were objectionable.

Earlier this week, the Haryana State Women’s Commission had summoned Mahmudabad, claiming that comments about the media briefings “disparaged women officers in the Indian armed forces and promoted communal disharmony”.

Bhatia, the commission’s chairperson, told India News that the professor ignored its summons on May 14.

“On May 15, we visited the university, and were hoping that the registrar and vice-chancellor would call him there,” she had said. “But he did not appear there either. We don’t think that we need any more proof.”

In a social media post on May 8, Mahmudabad, the head of the university’s political science department, had highlighted the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofia Qureshi, who had represented the Army during media briefings about Indian military operations against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“Perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens,” he had said.

Mahmudabad had said that the optics of the press briefings by Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh were important, “but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it’s just hypocrisy”.

The Haryana women’s panel, however, accused the professor of attempting to “vilify national military actions”, The Indian Express reported. It sought an explanation from him in the form of an affidavit, and any supporting material that he relied on for his remarks.

Mahmudabad, however, said that he only exercised his fundamental right to freedom of speech in order to promote peace and harmony.

The professor maintained that his remarks had been “completely misunderstood” by the commission and that its notice failed to highlight how his posts were “contrary to the right of or laws for women”.

Mahmudabad added: “If anything, my entire comments were about safeguarding the lives of both citizens and soldiers. Furthermore, there is nothing remotely misogynistic about my comments that could be construed as anti-women.”

Ashoka University had said that the comments did not represent the opinion of the university.

Mahmudabad obtained his PhD from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, and had previously studied at the University of Damascus in Syria and the Amherst College in the United States.

Also read: Full text: ‘A good citizen and true patriot’, say 1,000 scholars in defence of Ashoka professor