Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad, the Ashoka University Professor Arrested Over 'Hypocrisy' Remarks on Operation Sindoor?

New Delhi: Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a historian and political science professor at Ashoka University in Haryana, has been arrested for his recent remarks concerning press briefings linked to Operation Sindoor. His detention followed a police complaint by BJP Yuva Morcha’s Haryana general secretary, Yogesh Jatheri, according to multiple reports quoting his legal team.

The arrest has sparked outrage among sections of the academic community, with calls for judicial intervention. Delhi University professor Apoorvanand wrote on X that the police allegedly arrested Mahmudabad from Delhi without obtaining a transit remand. “The FIR was filed at 8 pm. Police reached his house the next morning at 7 am,” he said, urging the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court to take note, referencing the Supreme Court's judgment in the Pravir Purkayastha case.

Reports suggest that the charges include sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to promoting communal disharmony, inciting rebellion, and religious offence. Some sources have also indicated that sedition provisions have been invoked, though an official police statement is still awaited.

Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad?

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, 42, carries both a scholarly and regal legacy. He is the son of Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan of Mahmudabad, a prominent figure who spent nearly 40 years in court seeking the return of family estates seized under the Enemy Properties Act.

His grandfather, Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, was the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad and a major financier of the Muslim League in the years before India’s partition.

Ali’s early education began at La Martiniere, Lucknow, before he moved to the UK for secondary studies at King’s College School and later Winchester College, where he graduated in 2001. He went on to pursue his PhD at the University of Cambridge and has also studied in Syria at the University of Damascus and at Amherst College in the US.

Currently, Ali serves as Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University in Sonipat. His research spans political theory, history, and the intersection of religion and politics in South Asia.

Apart from his academic work, he is also a published author and poet, writing in both English and Urdu.