The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Haryana if it can show magnanimity and deny the sanction to prosecute Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad in the case pertaining to his comments about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor, Live Law reported.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was quoted as saying that if the state government is willing to show leniency in the matter, Mahmudabad must also “act in a very responsible manner” in the future.

Mahmudabad, who heads the political science department at Ashoka University, had been booked in May for a social media post highlighting the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had represented the Indian Army during the press briefings.

He 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”.

“Perhaps they [commentators] 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 was arrested on May 18 but was granted bail by the Supreme Court three days later.

However, the court had at the time declined to halt the investigation against him. It had also instructed the Haryana Police chief to form a Special Investigation Team to look into the meaning of the words used by Mahmudabad.

Mahmudabad faces charges under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to acts prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony, making assertions likely to cause disharmony, acts endangering national sovereignty and words or gestures intended to insult a woman’s modesty, among others.

The comments by the Supreme Court on Tuesday came after Additional Solicitor General SV Raju informed the bench that while the chargesheet in the matter had been filed in August, the Haryana government’s approval to prosecute Mahmudabad was pending.

Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Mahmudabad, agreed to the comments made by the bench, Live Law reported.

The court said it will hear the matter after six weeks to allow Raju to take instructions from the state government on whether it is willing to show “one-time magnanimity and close the issue”.

On August 25, the Supreme Court restrained a magistrate from taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Haryana Police’s Special Investigation Team in the case. It had also quashed all proceedings in the second first information report against Mahmudabad in the matter, based on a police closure report.

The Haryana State Women’s Commission had accused the professor of attempting to “vilify national military actions”.

The panel said that he had ignored its summons on May 14. It further said that when the commission visited the university on May 15, he did not appear before it.

Mahmudabad has 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”.

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