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Nothing illustrates the Supreme Court’s unwillingness to defend free speech in ‘Naya Bharat’ better than the shabby denouement of the Ali Khan Mahmudabad case earlier this week.

Instead of standing up for the Ashoka University professor’s constitutionally protected speech – a Facebook post that on a plain (or even ‘between the lines’ reading) clearly violated no law – the Supreme Court has not only let the Haryana government get away with a mala fide chargesheet and arrest but also allowed it to issue a gratuitous ‘warning’ to Mahmudabad, one which the bench implicitly endorsed by saying the professor “shall act in a prudent manner in the future”.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

It is “prudent” at this point to remind ourselves of what exactly Mahmudabad wrote.

The full May 8, 2025 post is still available on Facebook and made three points. The first two were about how India was no longer prepared to make a distinction between non-state actors and the Pakistani military, that the resulting confrontation was of Pakistan’s making and that the mindless advocacy of a wider war would not help resolve what is essentially a political conflict. However, it was his third point – which made a reference to the defence ministry’s use of a Muslim officer of the Indian Army for official briefings during Operation Sindoor – that annoyed and angered the Bharatiya Janata Party:

“I am very happy to see so many right wing commentators applauding Colonel Sophia Qureishi but perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing and others who are victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens. The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings is important.. but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it’s........

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