Brickbat: Watch What You Post

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, head of the political science department at Ashoka University in India, was arrested for a Facebook post about Operation Sindoor, India’s military response against Pakistan to the Pahalgam terrorist attacks, after a complaint by a member of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth organization. Mahmudabad wrote in his post he was “very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding” the effort but added that “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.” He faces charges of endangering India’s sovereignty, promoting enmity between groups, assertions prejudicial to national integration, and insulting religious beliefs.