Observing that his comments were “cancerous and dangerous”, the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the registration of an FIR against BJP leader and state minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his comment alluding to Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as a “sister of terrorists”.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Anuradha Shukla observed, “Prima facie, the statement of the minister that Colonel Qureshi is the sister of the terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack encourages feelings of separatist activities which thereby endangers the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”
Speaking , Shah said that those who widowed India’s daughters were taught a lesson by Prime Minister using their own sister “(unki samaaj ki behen ke zariye)”. He repeated this statement thrice. The Congress had alleged this was a reference to Colonel Qureshi, who conducted press briefings during Operation Sindoor.
The court observed that the “armed forces (are) perhaps the last institutional bastion existing in this country reflecting integrity, industry, sacrifice, selflessness and unlimited courage with which any citizen of this country can identify”, and that “has been targeted by Mr Vijay Shah.”
“It must be mentioned here that Colonel Qureshi along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh were the faces of the armed forces briefing the media on the progress of operation Sindoor launched by our armed forces against Pakistan,” it said.
“The Minister made unpardonable statements against Colonel Qureshi as an innuendo, but which can refer to none other but her alone, as there is no one else who will fit the comment of the minister,” Justice Atul Sreedharan observed.
The court said that at that public function, “he has referred to Colonel Qureshi as the sister of the terrorist who carried out the killings of 26 innocent Indians at Pahalgam”.
“Further, (there are) newspaper reports and the plethora of digital evidence on the internet in which the speech of the ministers is clear, where he has referred to Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi for having sent the sister of a terrorist to sort them out,” the court said. “His comments are cancerous and dangerous.”
Justice Sreedharan also observed that Colonel Qureshi is an “adherent of the Muslim faith” and by referring to her as the sister of terrorists, the statement has the “propensity to give the feeling that irrespective of selflessness, duties of a person towards India, such a person could still be derided only because she happened to belong to the Muslim faith.”
The statement made by the minister prima facie “has the propensity to cause disharmony and feelings of enmity or hatred or ill will between the members of the Muslim faith” and persons who do not belong to the religion, the court said.
The court directed the DDGP of Madhya Pradesh to register an FIR against Shah.
