Supreme Court in no mood to condone Madhya Pradesh minister in Col Sofiya Qureshi case

NEW DELHI: More than a year after Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah stoked a controversy for 'obnoxiously' linking Col Sofiya Qureshi to "Operation Sindoor", the Supreme Court Friday appeared in no mood to condone his misdemeanour and asked the state govt to take a call on the SIT's request for sanction of his prosecution.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta filed a status report before the SC and said that it appears that Shah intended to praise Col Qureshi but goofed up in making a statement that unfortunately conveyed a different meaning.



A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said, "The statement was most unfortunate, and it appears he had no sense of repentance." Shah's counsel Maninder Singh said the minister had immediately apologised within 24 hours after realising that the statement was being viewed in a different light.

The bench said this is not the only instance of the minister making obnoxious statements and asked the SIT to find out other instances of such remarks by him, as was indicated by SIT in its earlier report.

When SG Tushar Mehta said that the political personality could not properly articulate his words of praise for the woman officer, the bench said, "The political personalities are otherwise very articulate and convey what they intend to.