Ashoka University professor's colleagues keep watch at police station in shifts
Ali Khan Mahmudabad's colleagues have decided to ensure that the 42-year-old professor is not alone for a moment during his incarceration
Colleagues of Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad have not only come out in the open to support him but are also keeping him company in “rotating shifts” at Rai police station lockup in Haryana’s Sonipat following his arrest on Sunday morning.
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Haryana police arrested Mahmudabad, the head of Ashoka University's political science department, on May 18 after two FIRs were registered against him, alleging his social media posts on Operation Sindoor endangered the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
Extending support
His colleagues have decided to ensure that the 42-year-old professor is not alone for a moment during his incarceration.
“We are coming here in shifts to ensure someone from the university is always with him. Around 10 faculty members have come to the police station to ensure that Mahmudabad has access to basics like food and diabetes medicines. He wears a glucose monitor. The police are slow to respond to requests but are taking care of his medical needs. There has been no mistreatment,” one of the faculty members told The Times of India.
Students slam arrest
Meanwhile, Ashoka University students have termed the arrest of Mahmudabad a “stark violation” of not just academic freedom, but of the very principles he taught them and stood for. The students also joined the call for his immediate release, terming Mahmudabad's arrest “wrongful”.
Coming out in support of Mahmudabad, the students of the varsity said in a statement on Monday, “We, the students of the course ‘Banish the Poets’, stand firmly united and in solidarity with our professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad. Throughout the course, Prof Khan lectured on love, consistently emphasising secular values such as reason, compassion, justice and freedom of thought as the foundations for meaningful dialogue.”
Calling Mahmudabad a “principled academic, a brilliant orator, a kind mentor and a brave academic”, the students said, “We are beyond fortunate to have learnt from him.” Earlier, the faculty association of the university in a statement strongly condemned Mahmudabad's arrest on “groundless and untenable charges”.
Opposition flays move
The Congress, CPI(M), AIMIM and Trinamool Congress have also denounced the police action against Mahmudabad, who maintained that his comments were “misunderstood”, asserting that he only exercised his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
Also read | Politicians, lawyers, academics speak out against Ashoka University teacher’s arrest
The FIRs against him were lodged at the Rai police station in Sonipat district -- one based on a complaint by the chairperson of the Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on a complaint by a village sarpanch.
On Sunday, the faculty association of Ashoka University condemned Mahmudabad’s arrest and demanded his immediate release.