A professor who was put in jail over social media posts amid the India-Pakistan flare up has been released on bail.
Ali Khan Mahmudabad was arrested on Sunday over remarks made about two female army officers – one Hindu and one Muslim – who gave press briefings during the fighting earlier this month.
The Commission for Women in the northern state of Haryana, where the university Mr Mahmudabad works at is located, complained that his comments undermined women officers and were an “attempt to vilify national military actions”, according to local media.
His release was ordered by the country’s Supreme Court. The court also placed restrictions on Mr Mahmudabad’s ability to comment on the case and his social media posts.
It comes after an Indian YouTube personality was arrested over alleged links to a Pakistani diplomat and in what critics say is a wider climate of crackdown on free speech in India.
In a Facebook post, Mr Mahmudabad said that by including both an Indian and Muslim woman in such a way, the government was trying to show the country was united in its diversity.
He said: “The optics of two women soldiers presenting their findings are important, but optics must translate to reality on the ground, otherwise it’s just hypocrisy.”
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“The grassroots reality that common Muslims face [in India] is different from what the government tried to show but at the same time the press conference shows that an India, united in its diversity, is not completely dead as an idea,” added the professor, who is Muslim.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi denies religious discrimination exists in India.
