Prof Ismail Mashal was detained on Thursday while handing out free books, APA reports citing BBC News.
He rose to prominence after he tore up his academic records live on television in protest against the Taliban's ban on university and secondary school education for women and girls.
Prof Mashal, 37, has been accused of "provocative actions" by the Taliban.
He is accused of trying to harm the Taliban's government by inviting journalists to crowd on a main road and create "chaos", Abdul Haq Hammad, a Taliban official from the Ministry of Information and Culture wrote on Twitter.
Eyewitnesses reported that the professor was slapped, punched and kicked by Taliban security forces during the arrest, however Abdul Haq Hammad said the professor was being treated well while in custody.
A former journalist, Prof Mashal ran a private university in Kabul which had 450 female students studying journalism, engineering, economics and computer science - all courses the Taliban's education minister said should not be taught to women because they are against Islam and Afghan culture.
When the Taliban announced in December that female university students would no longer be allowed back to study until further notice, Prof Mashal closed his school completely, saying "education is either offered to all, or no one".
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