My Name is Khan: Whither Justice in ‘New' India?

India Today

23-05-2025

A few weeks ago, I broadcast a contentious video blog, 'My Name is Rahim Khan,' to reflect upon what it meant to be an Indian Muslim in the age of Hindutva political dominance. I was instantly targeted by the Hindu Right ecosystem, which accused me of falsely portraying Muslim 'victimhood' to escape confronting the real problem of rising Islamic extremism. In hindsight, maybe I got the blog name wrong: I should have titled the video blog, 'My Name is Ali Khan Mahmudabad'.advertisementThe recent arrest of the Ashoka University professor of political science for an opinionated Facebook post reveals all that is horribly wrong with a political establishment that has pushed the Indian Muslim to the wall. Ali Khan Mahmudabad's 'crime' was that he had chosen to express himself on Operation Sindoor by questioning what he saw as the hypocrisy of the right-wing commentariat in celebrating the presence of Colonel Sofiya Qureshi in the government's media outreach on the Indo-Pak conflict.'I am very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding Colonel 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,' his Facebook post read.advertisement
Khan was effectively drawing a distinction between Colonel Qureshi as a token symbol of 'secularism' and the ground reality of growing discrimination against Indian Muslims. It was a sharp personal critique of the Modi government, but could it be perceived as an 'act endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India' or indeed, 'word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman'? Since when did criticism of the government, however provocative, become 'criminalised' to the point where it attracts immediate arrest merely on a complaint by a village sarpanch who is a BJP Yuva Morcha worker, or indeed a notice sent by the Haryana State Commission for Women?When asked in a television interview to show how exactly Ali Khan had 'insulted the modesty of a woman', the Haryana State Commission for Women chief Renu Bhatia was clueless, struggling to offer a coherent explanation for any offending line. It was obvious that the Haryana State Commission for Women, like many a 'sarkari' institution, had simply jumped the gun under 'official' instructions to send a notice to the professor. Aided by a complicit and ham-handed Haryana Police, there was clearly no attempt to follow due process or even a pretense at protecting an individual's right to life and liberty.advertisementThe case raises several troubling questions. The first is the brazen abuse of power to curb free speech. This is not an isolated case. Almost every government, be it in the State or Centre across parties, uses its executive authority and total control over the police to muzzle dissenting voices.Recall how a Marathi actor, Ketaki Chitale, faced arrest in 2022 for allegedly sharing a derogatory post about NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media. Or how the DMK government in Tamil Nadu was silent when Savukku Shankar, a YouTuber and vocal critic of the ruling party, was targeted when a 'group' entered his house and dumped sewage and excreta inside. Or how a Kolkata professor was charged with forwarding a Mamata Banerjee cartoon and eventually discharged only eleven years after his arrest. In a sense, the Indian political system has embraced the dictum of the infamous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who was once quoted as saying, 'There is freedom of speech, but I cannot guarantee freedom after speech.'Sadly, most state governments have only taken a cue from the Centre, where sedition laws in particular have been 'weaponised' to ensure that any criticism of the Modi government can easily be equated with 'anti-national' activity.advertisementBut not only is the law being 'weaponised' to curb free speech, its application is wholly selective. Which raises the second urgent concern. Who comes under the purview of the law is dependent entirely on the whims and fancies of the power elite.Just contrast the case of Ali Khan with that of Vijay Shah, a Madhya Pradesh minister, who made the most disparaging, sexist and communally-loaded remarks against Colonel Qureshi. Instead of sacking the minister or at the very least publicly upbraiding him, the BJP leadership in Madhya Pradesh rallied around their colleague. The Centre was conspicuously silent while the minister gave a token apology. It required the high court to insist that a suo motu FIR be filed against the minister and for the Supreme Court to describe his remarks as a 'national shame'. And while a court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to 'investigate' the minister's remarks, the Madhya Pradesh police didn't swoop in to arrest the minister as was the case in Delhi with Ali Khan.Which is why there is a third and more pressing issue that underlies the Ali Khan case. A professor with a doctoral degree from Cambridge University and impeccable academic credentials, Khan has one red mark on his CV: he is an Indian Muslim who is unafraid to speak his mind. That he comes from the erstwhile Mahmudabad royal family and his grandfather, Mohammed Aamir Ahmad Khan, was a key figure in the pre-Partition Muslim League makes him the perfect 'enemy' figure for a Hindutva-driven ecosystem whose prime objective it to 'demonise' the Indian Muslim as 'unpatriotic', pro-Pakistani and of questionable character. An opposition leader or an opinion page writer who is not a Muslim can get away by raising questions on Operation Sindoor, an articulate Indian Muslim does not have the same licence.advertisementWhich is why Ali Khan finds himself on the wrong side of the law. His 'crime', like that of so many other Indian Muslims facing the wrath of state impunity and discrimination, is not that he said anything that could be deemed violative of any law of the land; his 'crime' is that he is an Indian Muslim who is an outspoken critic of the present regime.On the other hand, a Vijay Shah can make communal remarks that prima facie violate the law, but he will remain untouched because he is after all, a leading member of the ruling party. That is the difference when your surname is Shah and not Khan: apology in one case, arrest in the other. That is 'new' India.advertisementPost-script: The Supreme Court, while granting interim bail to Ali Khan, has appointed a SIT to look into his Facebook posts. Just what the SIT can 'investigate' is unclear. What is clear is that we seem to have a number of unemployed cops and a judicial system where the process is the punishment.(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His latest book is 2024: The Election That Surprised India)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch