Several noted voices continued to speak up for arrested Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad even as the Supreme Court hears his case on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court's causelist shows a bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice N. Kotiswar will be hearing a plea against the professor’s arrest.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising drew the parallel that many have been pointing to – the contrast between how the Madhya Pradesh minister’s case is being handled and what the professor is having to go through.
“How cruel is our legal system . Ali Mahmudabad and his wife are expecting their first born while he sits in prison. UP Minister who abused the woman army officer who announced details of Op Sindoor as being “sister of terrorist “gets a no arrest order from the SC,” Jaising wrote.
She was referring to the case against Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah.
"...Whatever facts are presented before the court, the court will decide accordingly. But I want to tell you one thing, there is a world of difference between their case and the Madhya Pradesh minister’s case,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha told PTI Videos on the Supreme Court's hearing regarding the arrest of Mahmudabad.
“The minister has long held certain views about women and has made several derogatory remarks about them. For example, when the wife of the former chief minister was removed from the cabinet, he spoke disrespectfully about her... The minister’s case should not be compared with the professor’s, as the professor comes from a distinguished family, I even knew his father personally," Tankha added.
Trinamul MP Mohua Moitra posted on X that Mahmudabad “has been targeted simply for being Muslim. BJP’s VijayShah booked under same sections walks free. @policeharyana’s Mickey Mouse charges will not stand in court. Every one needs to rally around till Ali is released.”
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had pulled up the police for the tardy FIR against the minister.
On Tuesday, 11 academics, including retired professors, addressed a media conference here on the “illegal” arrest of Khan on charges of endangering the country’s sovereignty and integrity and promoting enmity between different groups. They said Mahmudabad was targeted because he was Muslim.
The head of Ashoka University’s political science department was arrested following an FIR lodged by the Haryana women’s commission and the BJP’s Yuva Morcha general secretary, Yogesh Jathedi.
