Operation Sindoor remark: SC grants interim bail to Ashoka University professor

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday has granted interim bail yet sharply questioned Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Ashoka University, who was recently arrested over his social media remarks concerning Operation Sindoor and the role of women officers in the Indian Armed Forces. The bench, while hearing a plea related to his arrest, emphasised the need for national unity and accountability from those in positions of influence.

“We have to be united,” the top court observed during the proceedings, referring to the sensitive context of national security in which Professor Mahmudabad’s comments were made.

Turning to the professor, the court asked pointedly: “Where is your duty?” and criticised the nature of his public statements, asking whether they were intended “to gain cheap popularity”.

The remarks came as the court took up the case following Mahmudabad’s arrest over a controversial social media post made in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor—a retaliatory strike by Indian forces targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

In his now-controversial post, Mahmudabad had referred to the media briefings by women officers—Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh—as “optics”, stating that such visibility must translate to substantive change or risk becoming “hypocrisy”. He had further urged that those praising the officers should also advocate for victims of mob lynchings and alleged misuse of state power.