The Haryana government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it has refused to grant sanction to prosecute Ashoka University professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad in a criminal case filed against him over his social media posts on 'Operation Sindoor'.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for Haryana, told a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that they have not granted sanction to prosecute Professor Mahmudabad.
"Showing one-time magnanimity, we have closed the issue and have refused to grant sanction," Raju told the bench, reported PTI.
The apex court recorded the submission and noted that the proceedings pending before the trial court concerned would stand closed. The court was hearing a petition filed by Prof Mahmudabad seeking to quash the case.
The SC had earlier urged the State to reconsider the matter and close the case by declining sanction to prosecute Prof Mahmudabad. In May last year, the court granted the professor interim relief while also directing the government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to ascertain if there was any criminality in Mahmudabad's posts.
On January 6 , the top court extended its order restraining the trial court from taking cognisance of the chargesheet filed by the Haryana SIT in the FIR against Mahmudabad.
The apex court had passed the order after Raju informed it that though a chargesheet was filed in August 2025, no sanction was given by the Haryana government so far.
Prof Mahmudabad was arrested by the Haryana police in May last year after two FIRs were registered against him over his social media posts on the treatment of minorities in India, in the context of appreciation for Colonel Sofiya Qureshi leading the press briefings of 'Operation Sindoor'.
The two FIRs -- one based on a complaint by the chairperson of Haryana State Commission for Women, Renu Bhatia, and the other on a complaint by a village sarpanch -- were lodged by Rai police in Sonipat district.
He was booked under BNS sections 152 (acts endangering sovereignty or unity and integrity of India), 353 (statements conducing to public mischief), 79 (deliberate actions aimed at insulting the modesty of a woman) and 196 (1) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion).
Mahmudabad's arrest triggered a wave of outrage from academics and Opposition parties, who termed the action "deplorable" and "utterly condemnable."