Supreme Court Hearing on Khan’s Controversial Facebook Post: Receives Interim Bail, SIT to be formed

On May 21st, Wednesday, the Supreme Court granted Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad interim bail over the two FIRs filed against him following certain remarks in his Facebook post on India’s Operation Sindoor. The bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and N.K. Singh explained that the bail was issued for the process of “facilitating further investigation”.

Accordingly, the bench further directed the Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) within the next 24 hours. The SIT must consist of three senior IPS officers who do not belong to the Haryana or Delhi cadres. The SIT should be headed by an Inspector General (IG) rank officer, the other two members must be of Superintendent Police (SP) rank. Of the three, one must be female. The court added that Khan is expected to be fully cooperative with the investigation and the team.

Conditions for the interim bail include halting social media posts and restricting the public expression of his opinions in relation to the India-Pakistan conflict. The court has also directed Khan to surrender his passport.

After the Court announced Khan’s interim bail, Vice-Chancellor Somak Roychaudhury released the following statement via email:

“I am happy to share with you that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has granted interim bail to Prof. Ali Khan Mahmudabad today. We are relieved and heartened by this decision. It has provided great comfort to his family and all of us at Ashoka University.” He added that the university is committed to offering support to Khan and his family.