The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah’s apology for his “crass” comments about Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, the Indian Army’s spokesperson during Operation Sindoor press briefings, and directed the state to set up a special investigation team (SIT) of three senior police officials to probe the episode.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh rapped Shah and said his apology appeared to be an attempt to “wriggle out of the situation” he had landed himself in.
“You are a public figure. You should weigh your words. You were on the verge of using filthy and abusive language… probably only stopped because you couldn’t think of an alternate word or good sense prevailed,” the bench said.
“This was such an emotive issue for the Army. They are on the frontlines. The least we can do is respect them. The entire nation is ashamed of you,” it added.
‘Set up SIT by Tuesday,’ SC orders DGP
The bench then ordered the MP director general of police (DGP) to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising three senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, including a woman officer, by Tuesday (May 20).
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The court also specified that all three officers “should be (from) outside the state” and should be led by an officer of at least Inspector General of Police rank, while the other two should not be below the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP).
The SIT will have to submit its first status report to the court on May 28.
‘It is a litmus test’
“It is a litmus test, and we want the state to submit the SIT report to us. We would like to have a very close watch,” the court said.
The court has, for now, restrained the state police from arresting the minister.
The court passed the orders on a petition filed by Shah against the Madhya Pradesh High Court order of May 14 that took suo motu cognisance of his remarks and ordered the police to register an FIR. The FIR was filed against Shah at the Manpur police station in Indore rural.
At its first hearing on May 15, a bench led by CJI BR Gavai pulled up the minister for his offensive remarks against Col Sofiya, and termed them disparaging and dangerous not just to the officer but to the armed forces itself.
The minister told the top court that the media wrongly quoted his statement and that he had already apologised.
At an event in Indore on May 12, the minister said in an apparent reference to Qureshi, “Those who widowed our daughters, we sent a sister of their own to teach them a lesson”. He apologised for the remarks the next day, even as the high court took cognisance and ordered the state police to file an FIR against him.
The bench stayed Vijay Shah’s arrest but cautioned that the matter would not be allowed to become political. “He must face consequences. Let law take its own course. We will not allow this to be politicised,” Justice Kant told the state government.
