New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday came down heavily on Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his incendiary and communal remarks against Indian Army officer, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had briefed the media following the successful ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan-based terror camps.
Rejecting Shah’s apology, the court minced no words in condemning his statements and called his contrition “insincere” and “nothing more than crocodile tears”.
“The kind of crass comments you made was completely thoughtless. What prevented you from making a sincere attempt? We don’t require your apology. We know how to deal with you as per the law,” said visibly unimpressed Justice Surya Kant.
The court took serious exception to the nature of Shah’s remarks, which not only targeted an Army officer but were also laced with communal undertones.
Presiding over the bench with Justice N Kotiswar Singh, Justice Surya Kant reminded Shah of the weight his words carry as a public figure.
“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,” he said.
Shah’s comment, suggesting that Prime Minister Modi had sent “a sister from their society” to “undress” the enemy in revenge, was not only crude but deeply communal, referring to Colonel Qureshi’s religious identity in a manner the court deemed “the most unfortunate statement”.
“You were at the verge of using abusive language. You stopped. You were about to use filthy language, you could not find a word, so you stopped,” the bench observed sharply.
With an aim to ensure impartiality, the top court constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident. The SIT will comprise of three senior IPS officers, one of whom must be a woman. The team has been drawn from outside Madhya Pradesh to avoid political interference and will report directly to the court.
“This is not just about a minister crossing the line; it is about the dignity of the armed forces and the fabric of our civil-military respect. We will not allow this to become a free-for-all,” the court said.
The SIT has been instructed to submit its findings before May 28. While the court has allowed Shah to remain out on bail for now, it warned that his arrest remains conditional on his full cooperation with the investigation.
Advocate Varun Thakur, who is representing the matter, called it a “historic order”. “The Supreme Court has rightly called out this kind of political indecency. The SIT will dig into the facts. The court has made it clear – there will be no tolerance for such toxic rhetoric, especially when it targets the armed forces,” he told the media.
As the storm brews, what remains clear is that the highest court of the land has drawn a line: insulting the uniform, especially in the name of politics and communal grandstanding, will not be brushed aside.
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