The Supreme
Court on Monday came down heavily on Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah
for his controversial remarks targeting Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, a decorated
officer of the Indian Army.
Calling
the remarks “shameful", the court rejected Shah’s apology and ordered a
Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by a woman officer, to probe the case
registered against him.
A
bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said it had reviewed Shah’s
apology and videos and found them "lacking in sincerity".
“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 didn’t find the suitable words. You should be shameful. The entire country
is proud of our Army and you made this statement,” Justice Kant said.
“What kind of apology was this? You should have simply admitted
your mistake and apologised. But instead, you say ‘if’ you said this or that,
then you apologise. This is not the way to seek an apology,” he added.
The Supreme Court directed the Madhya Pradesh
Director General of Police to form a three-member SIT headed by an Inspector
General (IG) rank officer, with at least one woman officer.
The SIT must be constituted by 10 am on Tuesday and
submit its first report by May 28.
An FIR was registered against Shah on May 14 in
Indore district, following a suo motu order by the Madhya Pradesh High Court,
which condemned his use of “language of the gutters.”
The FIR cites Sections 152,
196(1)(b), and 197(1)(c) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including
offences related to promoting enmity, making inflammatory statements, and
actions endangering India’s sovereignty and unity.
Shah had made the remarks on May
12 following the Indian Army's Operation Sindoor. Without naming Col Qureshi
directly, he said, “You widowed sisters of our community, so a sister of your
community will strip you naked. Modi ji proved that the daughters of your
community can be sent to Pakistan to take revenge.”
Following widespread backlash,
Shah issued a statement saying he was ready to “apologise 10 times” if his
remarks had hurt anyone and added that he respected Col Qureshi “more than his
sister".
The Bench rejected his defence.
“Being a public representative, the minister ought to have led by example and
used every single word sensibly,” it said.