Ashoka University professor arrest: Haryana forms SIT headed by Sonepat police chief
Acting on the Supreme Court’s direction, Haryana’s Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur on Thursday constituted an SIT to conduct investigations in the two FIRs against Ashoka University associate professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad.
Headed by Additional Director General of Police (Crime) Mamta Singh, the SIT will include Superintendent of Police (Karnal) Ganga Ram Punia and Superintendent of Police (STF, Gurugram) Vikrant Bhushan as members.
Singh is also the commissioner of the Sonepat Police.
The Haryana Police arrested Mahmudabad, head of Ashoka University’s political science department, on May 18 for his social media posts on Operation Sindoor.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Mahmudabad but refused to stay the investigation.
“In compliance with the order dated May 21 passed by the Supreme Court, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Mamta Singh, IPS, Additional Director General of Police, Crime, and Commissioner of Police, Sonepat, and comprising the following members is hereby constituted to conduct investigations in case FIR … dated May 17,” Kapur said in his order constituting the SIT.
The SIT will expeditiously complete the investigation in the “aforementioned cases and will submit a report under Sections 193 of BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita), 2023, at the earliest”, according to the order.
On Wednesday, a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh directed the Haryana DGP to constitute a three-member SIT headed by an inspector general-rank officer, also including a superintendent-rank woman officer, within 24 hours to investigate the case.
“Having regard to the contents of the two alleged offending posts uploaded on social media, which have led to the registration of two FIRs against the petitioner, we are satisfied that no case for staying the investigation is made out,” the Bench had said.
The top court had ordered, “However, to holistically understand the complexity of the phraseology employed and for proper appreciation of some of the expressions used in these two online posts, we direct the director general of police, Haryana, to constitute an SIT comprising three directly recruited IPS officers, who do not belong to the states of Haryana or Delhi.”
Mahmudabad was arrested after two FIRs were registered against him, alleging his social media posts on Operation Sindoor endangered the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
The two FIRs — one based on a complaint by Haryana State Commission for Women Chairperson Renu Bhatia and the other on a complaint by a village sarpanch — were lodged at Rai police station in Sonepat district.
Haryana Tribune