The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a group of former civil servants, on 28 May (Wednesday), released a statement in support of the Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad, who was arrested over his two social media posts related to Operation Sindoor. The perils and consequences of suppressing free speech by unjust application of criminal law can be profoundly corrosive for a society, says the statement.

Groundxero | May 29, 2025

The arrest of Prof. Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor and head of the Political Science department at Ashoka University, has sparked widespread controversy, highlighting the precarious state of freedom of speech and expression in India. Prof. Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18, because a couple of people finding his social media posts during Operation Sindoor objectionable had filed first information reports (FIRs) against him.

Mahmudabad faces criminal charges after being accused of acts prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony, acts endangering national sovereignty and words or gestures intended to insult a woman’s modesty, among others. He got interim bail from the Supreme Court three days later, but the Court, while extending the interim bail granted to him till the third week of July, barred him from posting any opinion related to the events preceding and during the Operation Sindoor.

The Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), on Wednesday, came out with a statement in solidarity with Prof. Ali Khan Mahmudabad. The statement signed by close to 80 retired bureaucrats and diplomats called the criminal charges against Professor Mahmudabad as “outrageous and absurd,” and asserted that “it cannot be a crime to seek justice for victims of lynching and bulldozer demolitions, or to call for peace and restraint.”

The statement by CCG stressed that the primary message of Prof. Mahmudabad’s posts was to caution against the glorification of war and to mourn civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict. The group criticized the apparent double standard of the authorities in law enforcement by highlighting the sharp contrasts between the treatment of Prof. Mahmudabad and the inaction in the case of Madhya Pradesh Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, who likened Colonel Sofia Qureshi to “the sister of terrorists”. The group pointed out that it took an MP High Court directive for police action to be initiated against the BJP minister. The court has termed the minister’s remarks as “cancerous and dangerous.”

The CCG further criticized Ashoka University for its silence and failure to side by its faculty member, despite widespread support for Prof. Mahmudabad from students and faculty of the university, who protested his arrest. A students’ statement called him “a compassionate and thoughtful teacher who taught his students respect for the values of secular democracy.”

The signatories to the statement said that while they were relieved that the Supreme Court granted Mahmudabad interim bail, they were “dismayed” by the bail conditions and some comments made by the bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh. “The bench made mystifying allusions to ‘dog-whistling’ in the professor’s social media tweets, criticising his ‘choice of words’ and charging him with seeking ‘cheap publicity’” the former civil servants said in their statement.

The SC bench hearing his case has ordered appointment of a Special Investigation Team to “holistically understand the complexity of the phraseology employed” by Prof. Mahmudabad in his posts. The statement said, “It is beyond our comprehension how three police officers could be equipped to extract hidden meanings from a post written in elegant and straightforward English.”

Appealing the Supreme Court to uphold its own recent judgement in March, which said that in a democracy, even views that are opposed by many people must be “respected and protected,” the ex-bureaucrats remarked: “The perils and consequences of suppressing free speech by unjust application of criminal law can be profoundly corrosive for a society.”

The statement in full is produced below.

CCG OPEN STATEMENT ON THE ALI KHAN MAHMUDABAD CASE 

We are a group of former civil servants who have served in various capacities in the central  and state governments. We owe no allegiance to any political party; our only loyalty is to the  Constitution of India.

We are greatly distressed by the grave criminal charges levelled against Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad and his subsequent arrest. Professor Ali Khan was charged for two of his social media posts related to Operation Sindoor. His posts were thoughtful and  measured. In these he praised the restraint of the Indian Army. He noted the importance of the “optics” of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as a face of the Indian armed forces during the press briefings at the time that the hostilities were underway, but added that the symbolism of this  would be hypocritical if lynching and bulldozing of homes continued.

But the main burden of his posts was to make eloquent and heartfelt calls for peace. He described the loss of civilian lives on both sides as “tragic” and warned against  warmongering by civilians who have never experienced war. Denouncing the “blind bloodlust  for war” displayed by some people on social media, he declared that warmongering “is  actually disrespecting the seriousness of war and dishonouring the lives of soldiers whose  lives are actually on the line.”

For these posts, Professor Ali was charged under stringent sections of India’s new  criminal law code, the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita. These include Section 152, which penalises  acts “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”. This closely echoes the language  of the colonial-era sedition law under the now repealed Indian Penal Code. Other crimes for  which Professor Ali Khan is charged include Section 196(1)(b), which penalises acts that  disturb communal harmony and public tranquillity; Section 197(1)(c), which targets  “assertions likely to cause disharmony” and Section 299, which criminalises “deliberate and  malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings.”

We regard the criminal charges against Professor Ali Khan as outrageous and absurd. It cannot be a crime to seek justice for victims of lynching and bulldozer demolitions, or to  call for peace and restraint. It is noteworthy that despite the orders of the Supreme Court for  taking suo moto action, even rampant hate speeches that openly call for violence and ethnic cleansing of Indian Muslims have rarely attracted these criminal charges of disloyalty to the  nation and fostering religious hate. In the most recent case, after a minister from Madhya  Pradesh (MP), Kunwar Vijay Shah, described Colonel Sofia Qureshi as the sister of terrorists,  it required the MP High Court to direct the police to register an FIR against the minister. The  High Court described the statements of the minister as “cancerous and dangerous”.

Many students and faculty members came forward in heartening solidarity with  Professor Ali Khan, even though the management of Ashoka University remained  conspicuously silent about the unjust criminal targeting of their faculty. Faculty members took  turns to sit outside places where the professor was detained. We were particularly touched by  a statement by Professor Ali Khan’s students, who described him as compassionate and  thoughtful, a teacher who loved his country and taught his students respect for the values of  secular democracy spelt out in our Constitution.

After his arrest and police remand, we were relieved that the Supreme Court granted  him interim bail. But, with due respect, we are dismayed by some of the comments made by  the bench and the conditions of bail that were laid down. The bench made mystifying allusions  to “dog-whistling” in the professor’s social media tweets, criticising his “choice of words”  and charging him with seeking “cheap publicity”. The bench ordered the surrender of the  professor’s passport and the appointment of a Special Investigation Team to “holistically  understand the complexity of the phraseology employed and for proper appreciation of some  of the expressions used in the two posts.” It is beyond our comprehension how three police  officers could be equipped to extract hidden meanings from a post written in elegant and  straightforward English.

The Supreme Court disapproved of public displays of solidarity with the professor,  handing out a stern warning to academics and students who supported Professor Ali Khan  with the words “we know how to handle them also”. The learned judges also directed the  professor to make no further statements about the India-Pakistan hostilities. At a time when  the country is deluged with social media posts and speeches of hatemongering and  warmongering, it is a matter of painful irony that calls for peace by a political scientist are  silenced. It is noteworthy that despite the orders of the Supreme Court for taking suo moto  action, even rampant hate speeches that openly call for violence and ethnic cleansing of Indian  Muslims have rarely attracted criminal charges of disloyalty to the nation and fostering  religious hate.

We are quite disturbed by the deviation from defence of free speech, which has been  upheld by the Supreme Court in numerous cases, including Arnab Goswami vs. Union of India  and even recently in the case of Imran Pratapgarhi vs. State of Gujarat. In the latter case, Justice Oka pronounced that “in a healthy democracy, the views or thoughts expressed by an  individual or group of individuals must be countered by expressing another point of view”.  Even if such speech is opposed by many people, it must still be “respected and protected”.  That judgment notably offered advice to judges who might personally dislike certain  articulations. Even in such cases, it was their “duty to uphold” and “zealously protect” the  fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution.

The perils and consequences of suppressing free speech by unjust application of  criminal law can be profoundly corrosive for a society. Young journalist Saurav Das aptly  describes the treatment of Professor Ali Khan by the police and courts as “a perfect example  of how you make a nation of intellectually dead citizens, where critical inquiry is replaced by  rote repetition and progressive voices are muzzled to make space for conformist, mediocre  opinions. This is how a society dies, where the proliferation of free thought is choked, through  a slow, judicially sanctioned suffocation of intellectual life”.

SATYAMEVA JAYATE

Constitutional Conduct Group (79 signatories, as below)

1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI 2. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI 3. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 4. Aurobindo Behera IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 5. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal 6. K.V. Bhagirath IFS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, Indian Ocean Rim Association, Mauritius 4 7. Nutan Guha Biswas IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Police Complaints Authority, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 8. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI 9. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 10. Rachel Chatterjee IAS (Retd.) Former Special Chief Secretary, Agriculture, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh 11. Purnima Chauhan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Youth Services & Sports and Fisheries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 12. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab 13. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir 14. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 15. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI 16. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana 17. Kiran Dhingra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI 18. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden 19. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy 20. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI 21. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab 22. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI 23. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India 24. Rasheda Hussain IRS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics 25. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI 26. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 27. Naini Jeyaseelan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI 28. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi 29. Vinod C. Khanna IFS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, MEA, GoI 5 30. Gita Kripalani IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Settlement Commission, GoI 31. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 32. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission 33. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal 34. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI 35. Sandip Madan IAS (Resigned) Former Secretary, Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission 36. P.M.S. Malik IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar & Special Secretary, MEA, GoI 37. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 38. Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser 39. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 40. Sudhansu Mohanty IDAS (Retd.) Former Financial Adviser (Defence Services), Ministry of Defence, GoI 41. Ruchira Mukerjee IP&TAFS (Retd.) Former Advisor (Finance), Telecom Commission, GoI 42. Anup Mukerji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar 43. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal 44. Jayashree Mukherjee IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 45. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 46. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar 47. Sobha Nambisan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka 48. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh 49. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi 50. Alok Perti IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI 51. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI 52. R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI 53. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands 54. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 55. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI 6 56. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI 57. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission 58. M. Rameshkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal 59. Madhukumar Reddy A. IRTS (Retd.) Former Principal Executive Director, Railway Board, GoI 60. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI 61. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Punjab 62. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned) 63. Manabendra N. Roy IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 64. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal 65. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 66. G.V. Venugopala Sarma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Odisha 67. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 68. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI 69. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan 70. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia 71. Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission 72. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 73. Satyavir Singh IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI 74. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka 75. A.K. Srivastava IAS (Retd.) Former Administrative Member, Madhya Pradesh Administrative Tribunal 76. Prakriti Srivastava IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests & Special Officer, Rebuild Kerala Development Programme, Govt. of Kerala 77. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission 78. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 79. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica.