Postwar madness at Ashoka: The arrest of Ali Khan Mahmudabad

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

Postwar madness at Ashoka: The arrest of Ali Khan Mahmudabad

The Associate Professor of Political Science at Ashoka University was arrested by Haryana police on Sunday. His alleged crime: A Facebook post that said this:

I am very happy to see so many right wing commentators applauding Colonel Sofiya Qureshi 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 just hypocrisy.

The consequences: Two separate FIRs were registered against him. Khan was then arrested on a dazzling variety of charges—under the new and improved penal code:

The FIR has charged Ali Khan Mahmudabad under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 152 (acts which endanger sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs).

It’s a mercy that no one thought to book him as a terrorist under UAPA.

Irony alert: One of the FIRs was filed by Haryana State Women Commission Chairperson Renu Bhatia:

The Commission had on May 12 issued summons to Mr. Khan to appear before the panel, claiming his comments revealed concerns such as disparagement of women in uniform, including Colonel Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, undermining their roles as professional officers and misrepresentation of facts with repeated reference to “genocide”, “dehumanisation” and “hypocrisy” attributing malicious intent to the Indian government.

The same commission had little to say about BJP state minister Kunwar Vijay Shah—who described Qureshi as the “sister of terrorists.” Not a single women’s commission summoned Shah to explain himself. The Madhya Pradesh High Court had to independently step in to take action against him.

The ‘yellow’ star goes to: Ashoka University which used the occasion to affirm its staunch patriotism:

The comments made by a faculty member on his personal social media pages do not represent the opinion of the university. These statements have been made by him independently in his individual capacity. Ashoka University and all members of the Ashoka community are proud of India’s armed forces and support them unequivocally in their actions towards maintaining national security. We stand in solidarity with the nation and our forces.

Well, at least the Ashoka faculty association is upset—and a number of prominent teachers’ unions have come out in support of Khan.

Reading list: The Print has the most details on the arrest. The Telegraph is best on the BJP’s double standards. Indian Express offers a profile of Khan. Also read our Big Story on the rise and fall of Ashoka University.

EaseMyTrip’s ‘hold my beer’ moment: The travel booking company decided this was the perfect time to declare war on its far bigger rival MakeMyTrip—which accounts for 53.8% of the market. Founder Nishant Pitti spewed a series of posts claiming a) MakeMyTrip is controlled by the Chinese and b) it is putting our brave jawans in jeopardy. Pitti pointed to Chinese travel firm Trip.com’s 46% stake in MakeMyTrip. Also: five of MakeMyTrip’s ten board members are Chinese.

Why is this especially scary? MakeMyTrip offers defence personnel a hefty discount if they share their credentials. All of which led Pitti to declare: “Indian Armed Forces book discounted tickets via a platform majorly owned by China, entering Defence ID, route & date. Our enemies know where our soldiers are flying.” Presumably, Beijing has an efficient plan to eliminate our troops one soldier at a time—when they’re on holiday. Mint and Inc42 report on the controversy.

New Delhi’s travel plan: Kolkata to Mizoram… via Myanmar?

The government is planning a high speed corridor that will offer an alternative route—to connect the Northeastern states to the rest of India. This is a big deal because:

Currently, rest of India’s only access to the seven Northeastern states is through the narrow Siliguri Corridor, which goes by the apt moniker of “Chicken’s Neck”. Straddled between Nepal and Bangladesh, and only 20 km at its narrowest, this corridor has long posed an economic and a strategic challenge to New Delhi — one that has prompted some experts to call it “an Achilles heel for India.”

A change of plans: Originally the route was to pass through Bangladesh—but the regime change in Dhaka has nixed that plan. The last we heard from Mohammad Yunus, he was offering up our Seven Sister states to the Chinese. Now what to do?

Long road to Shillong: New Delhi has a somewhat convoluted solution—that looks like this:

As you can see, cargo will now go from Kolkata to the Sittwe port in Myanmar. Then it will travel down the Kaladan river to Paletwa (still in Myanmar)—hop onto a truck to Zorinpui in Mizoram. Then it is a road trip from Zorinpui to Silchar in Assam—via Aizawl. Silchar in turn will be connected by a high-speed highway to Shillong in Meghalaya—covering the rest of the Northeast. Mission accomplished!

A tiny geopolitical problem: Great parts of the Myanmar stretch runs through Rakhine, a region currently controlled by rebel militias—not the Myanmar military. Now the main group, the Arakan Army, has guaranteed safe passage. But the roads are a muddy mess due to lack of resources—and it is a little hard to build reliable infrastructure amid a bloody civil war. It isn’t clear how New Delhi intends to solve the problem.

Why any of this matters: It’s yet another knock-on effect of our deteriorating relationships with our neighbours. Indian Express and Deccan Herald have explainers of the importance of this project. India Shipping News and The Hindu have reporting on the project’s latest developments in Myanmar.

And the Eurovision 2025 winner is…

Austria—which won this year’s contest with the song ‘Wasted Love’ by JJ. Watch the official music vid below. JJ’s tearful victory performance is here.

The Israel factor: For the second straight year, there were angry protests over the inclusion of Israel (which isn’t exactly in Europe, btw):

More than 56,000 people signed a petition calling for Israel to be banned from the current season of Eurovision, while 72 former Eurovision contestants signed a letter urging the EBU to exclude Israel and its broadcaster, KAN, from the competition. The EBU again decided Israel may participate.

The narrow vote: Last year, the Israeli entry—Eden Golan’s performance of ‘Hurricane’—was marked by booing—but the sound was muted by broadcasters. This year, the contestant was Yuva Raphael—a survivor of the October 7 attacks—who sang ‘New Day Will Rise’. This may explain why Israel received the most points in the public vote—which accounts for half of the overall total earned by a singer. In the end, JJ won with 436 points to Raphael’s 357. You can watch Raphael’s performance below.

Also notable: Sweden sang about saunas:

Estonia paid tribute to Espresso Macchiato:

The biggest loser: The Brits—represented by a pop girl group called Remember Monday—celebrated getting zero points in the public vote—for the second year in a row:

As for the rest: Incurable romantics should check out ‘How Much Time Do We Have Left’ by Klemen—a tribute to his wife who survived a late-stage cancer diagnosis. For dog-lovers, there is the Irish entry about Laika—the dog sent to space by the Soviets. If you prefer milkshake men, we recommend checking out the Australian entry. Read Intercept on the Israel controversy and New York Times on Yuval’s inspirational story.

what caught our eye

business & tech

MIT is pulling the plug on a hyped-up AI study it once flaunted—calling for its headline-grabbing paper on AI-boosted scientists to be yanked from public view.
SpaceX wants to fire off 120 rockets a year—but environmental groups say the plan could wreck wildlife, pollute waters, and gut the local fishing scene.
OpenAI is teaming up with the UAE to build a mega data centre in Abu Dhabi—tipped to be one of the world’s largest, per Bloomberg.

sports & entertainment

The film industry loves Kevin Spacey again. After dragging him through mud because of a sexual assault lawsuit—for which he was found not guilty, Cannes is now honouring him with a lifetime achievement honor.
Singer Chris Brown has been arrested in Manchester over a 2023 incident in England where he allegedly beat a man over the head with a tequila bottle.
In a Cannes-announced deal, Largo.ai is teaming up with Brilliant Pictures to launch the world’s first fully AI-run film sales, production, and finance company.
Tom Cruise’s 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' blasted off at the Indian box office with a Rs 17.45 crore opening, as fans flocked to catch the spy-thriller’s action-packed last hurrah.
Sorry ‘Hera Pheri’ fans, Paresh Rawal who plays the iconic Baburao Ganpatrao Apte has backed out from the upcoming reboot—but he insists it’s not down to “creative differences” with director Priyadarshan.
Connie Francis—one of the reigning queens of the Billboard Hot 100 in its early days—is back on top as her song ‘Pretty Little Baby’ goes viral on social media.
Nehal Wadhera and Harpreet Brar powered Punjab Kings to a crucial 10-run win—spoiling a fireworks-filled 76-run opening blitz by Jaiswal and 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and confirming Punjab’s playoff place.
Sai Sudharsan (108*) and Shubman Gill (93*) pulled off a flawless 200-run chase against Delhi Capitals—making Gujarat Titans only the second team ever to do it without losing a wicket and cruising straight into the playoffs.

health & environment

Add Parkinson’s to the list—new research links ultra-processed foods to early signs of the disease, on top of obesity, dementia, and heart trouble.
A 58-year-old US woman has died from a mad cow-like brain disease—caught as a child, it lay dormant for 50 years before striking.
Lung power peaks in your early 20s—then it’s all downhill from there, says new study.
In a medical first, US doctors used custom gene-editing to treat a baby with a rare, deadly disorder—marking a breakthrough that could change how we fight genetic diseases.

meanwhile, in the world

Israel launched a new brutal ground offensive in Gaza, killing 144 with nonstop strikes on hospitals and homes overnight. The operation has trapped the last hospital in the north and cut off all medical aid.
The country has now also said it’ll allow “basic” aid into Gaza—but no word yet on when, how, or how much.
Meanwhile, Arab leaders at a Baghdad summit demanded an immediate Gaza ceasefire—and vowed to help rebuild the besieged enclave. No signs of it happening though.
Russia unleashed its biggest drone attack yet on Ukraine overnight—273 drones fired. Ukraine’s defenses jammed or shot down most of them though.
The IMF’s billion-dollar bailout for Pakistan just got pricier—Islamabad’s now staring down 11 brand-new conditions to keep the funds flowing.
America’s ex-President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that’s spread to his bones—his team confirmed on Sunday.
On to the current one—Trump’s chief Iran negotiator Steve Witkoff delivered the administration’s toughest stance yet—saying Tehran must completely give up its nuclear fuel enrichment to move forward in talks.
Forget trade negotiations—Trump says the US will just send out letters telling countries exactly what tariffs they’ll pay to do business in America.
More trade-talk: Vietnam has greenlit a $1.5 billion Trump golf resort—just as it stares down a looming 46% US tariff, with trade talks on the horizon.
The US may astonishingly get a reality show where immigrants already in the system race through gold mines and auto assembly lines to prove they’re the “most American”—with DHS now vetting the pitch.
Trump’s approval ratings are getting a lift from the unplugged—a NYT/Siena poll finds that voters who haven’t been tracking major headlines from his first 100 days are far more likely to say he’s doing a good job.
Moody’s has stripped the US of its last perfect credit score—downgrading it from Aaa to Aa1 for the first time. Hindustan Times has more on what this means.
On Feb 17, 2024, a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Seville flew pilotless for 10 minutes after the co-pilot fainted mid-air while the captain was in the restroom—German news agency dpa reported, citing Spanish investigators.

meanwhile, in India

Seven all-party delegations, led by MPs like Shashi Tharoor and Supriya Sule, are heading to key global partners this month to push India’s zero-tolerance stance on terrorism after the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor.
The move echoes the early ’90s cross-party push to show the world a united India—at that time the context was the Babri Masjid demolition, Kashmir violence, and anti-insurgency ops in Punjab.
Shamefully, M J Akbar—who was forced to quit as MoS in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations—has been roped into the key multi-party delegation for Operation Sindoor’s global outreach.
The UN is probing claims that Indian forces forced Rohingya refugees off a navy ship into the Andaman Sea, calling the act “unconscionable.”
Meanwhile, India’s Supreme Court slammed petitioners challenging the deportation for relying on shaky social media evidence and postponed the hearing to July 31.
A devastating fire tore through the historic Gulzar House, a commercial and residential building next to Hyderabad’s iconic Charminar, killing at least 17 people and injuring 10 more, police confirmed Sunday morning.
Travel vlogger Jyoti Rani, arrested for espionage, was being groomed by Pakistani intelligence as an ‘asset’ Haryana Police says.

Four things to see

One: The Mexican Navy training ship Cuauhtémoc crashed into New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Saturday night—killing two crew members and injuring 19. The 277-foot vessel lost power while maneuvering, causing its tall masts to smash into the bridge. The bridge was not seriously damaged and has reopened. You can see the moment of impact below. (BBC News)

Two: Humaara javelin champ Neeraj Chopra finally broke the elusive 90-meter barrier with a stunning 90.23m throw at the Doha Diamond League on Friday. It’s a new Indian national record and makes him only the third Asian ever to clear 90m—though it only won him a silver medal. You can watch his record-shattering throw below. For a bonus read, check out this interview he gave to Al Jazeera on the eve of his Diamond League triumph. (The Telegraph)

Three: No one can beat Indians’ love for aging (ancient?) rock stars. After a 13-year gap, Guns N’ Roses were back in Mumbai over the weekend—playing to ecstatic fans braving Mumbai rains and traffic! You can see the ‘November Rain’ singalong below. (The Hindu)

Four: Ahead of the ‘Mission Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ release in India, Tom Cruise did a presser showcasing his dreadful Hindi accent. It was every bit as cringe as expected. We really need to stop bullying Hollywood types into speaking Hindi. Maybe they can give Telugu a shot next time lol! (Indian Express)