New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Friday, cracked the whip on the Government of Madhya Pradesh for its failure to grant sanction to prosecute BJP leader and minister Kunwar Vijay Shah in connection with his alleged defamatory remarks about Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who was assigned to brief the media during Operation Sindoor last year.
The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi refused to accept Shah’s submission that he had apologised and asked the state to take a decision on the sanction and report compliance in 4 weeks.
“Please make a decision…Enough is enough now. And report compliance within 4 weeks,” the Court said, as reported by The Indian Express.
The Court had directed the state government to decide on the sanction issue within two weeks in January this year.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the bench to grant some more time for this on Friday. He was not defending the minister, Mehta said, but it seemed that the minister wanted to say something else, the SG said.
“What he said was definitely unfortunate. I am not defending him; this is my view, not the government’s. Possibly, he wanted to praise the lady; he could not articulate properly, but he ended up saying something,” Mehta said.
CJI Kant disagreed and said: “Political personalities are very articulate. They say what they want to. If it were a slip of tongue, he would have immediately apologised.”
The Court also referred to a report by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted on its direction. According to the SIT, “the man is in the habit of making such statements.”
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Shah, said he had issued an apology the very next day and also furnished it to the press.
“It is only because we have taken cognisance (that he apologised). Writing a letter is not an apology. It is only creating a fake defence…. The first thing he should have done was say, I have committed a mistake. I tender an unconditional apology for it… As if you are above the law,” the Court said.
The apology was already placed before the bench by the time it took cognisance of the matter, Singh submitted. “It took place on May 12, and on May 13 the apology came,” he said.
“I think he also came on a television and apologised with folded hands,” Mehta added.
Justice Bagchi then said: “Let the state look into the totality of the circumstances and take a decision.”
Shah, while addressing an event in May on May 12, 2025, had said that India taught a lesson to those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack using “their own sister”. He did not name any individual but the Congress alleged he was alluding to Colonel Qureshi.
The minister later sought to clarify the remarks by saying: “Do not see my speech in a different context. I want to tell people that my speech is not in that context. They are our sisters, and they have taken revenge with great strength along with the armed forces.”
The damage had been done by then. His remarks sparked widespread outrage, after which the Madhya Pradesh High Court took suo motu cognisance and ordered an FIR to be registered against him. He had then challenged that before the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court appointed a three-member SIT to probe the matter on May 19. The SIT sought sanction to prosecute him under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (promotion of communal hatred and ill-will).
