Supreme Court forms SIT to probe MP minister Vijay Shah's remarks on Indian Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, rejects apology

The Supreme Court of India (SC) has on May 19 formed a Special Investgation Team (SIT), comprising three senior Indian Police Services officers, including a woman officer, who are from outside Madhya Pradesh, to probe state minister Vijay Shah’s remarks regarding Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.

Earlier today, the Supreme Court slammed Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah for his remarks against Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, after her media briefing on Operation Sindoor, ANI reported.

SC refuses to accept Vijay Shah's apology

The apex court also refused to accept the apology submitted by the minister. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh told Shah that it had seen video where he made the remarks and his apology statement, and called the latter “crocodile tears”, PTI reported.

“(Wonder if) they were crocodile tears or an attempt to wriggle out of the legal proceedings. The entire nation was in shame due to the comments... We saw your videos, you were on the verge of using very filthy language but somehow better sense prevailed or you did not find suitable words. You should be shameful. Entire country is proud of our Army and you made this statement,” Justice Surya Kant said.

On the apology, the court added, “What kind of apology was this? You should have simply admitted your mistake and apologised but you say if you have said this and that…then I apologise. This is not the way to seek apology. The kind of crass comments you made, you should be shameful.”

What did Supreme Court say?

The SC bench called out Shah for his remarks on Col. Qureshi, saying: “You should be sensitive before making crass comments. The entire nation is in shame due to your statement.”

“You are a public figure. A seasoned politician. You should weigh your words when you speak. We should display your video here… This is an important issue for the armed forces. We need to be very responsible,” the SC bench said.

“Being a public representative the minister ought to have led by an example and used every single word sensibly,” the court further remarked.

The SC has directed the Madhya Pradesh director general of police to constitute a three-member SIT, headed by an IG rank officer by 10 am on May 20. It added that the team must comprise a woman officer, to probe the FIR registered following an order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The first state report by the SIT, the bench said, should be filed by May 28.

What did Vijay Shah do?

MP Tribal Affairs Minister Vijay Shah had on May 12 purportedly termed Col. Qureshi, a “sister of terrorists”, during his public speech on the Indian Army operations against Pakistan.

An FIR was registered against Shah in Indore district later on May 14 following an order from the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The FIR was registered under Sections 152 (acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), 196 (1)(b) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, language, or other similar characteristics) and 197(1)(c) (statement or action that causes or is likely to cause disharmony, enmity, or hatred between different groups) of the BNS.

(With inputs from Agencies)