The Supreme Court on Friday criticised the Madhya Pradesh government for delaying its approval to prosecute Bharatiya Janata Party leader and state minister Vijay Shah for his remarks allegedly targeting Army spokesperson Colonel Sofiya Quresh, Bar and Bench reported.
A decision on a request from a Special Investigation Team to sanction the action had to be submitted two weeks ago, noted a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.
“Just comply with our order now,” Bar and Bench quoted the chief justice as saying. “Enough is enough. The first thing should have been an apology [from Shah]. It was only after we took cognisance [that an apology was issued].”
On May 13, 2025, the BJP leader said, at an event in Mhow, that those who had widowed the daughters of India had been taught a lesson by Prime Minister Narendra Modi “by sending the sister from their own community”. He repeated the remark immediately after saying it the first time.
While the BJP leader did not name a person, Opposition parties had alleged that the minister was alluding to Qureshi, one of the spokespersons during the media briefings relating to Operation Sindoor held by the external affairs ministry and the defence ministry.
On May 14, 2025, the Madhya Pradesh High Court took suo moto cognisance of the matter and ordered the registration of a case against Shah. The High Court had also observed that Shah’s remarks referred to “none other but” Qureshi.
Shah was subsequently booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India, an act hurting harmony between communities and for making statements about a member of a community in a manner that could adversely affect communal harmony.
The BJP leader had moved the Supreme Court challenging the first information report.
During the hearing on Friday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Madhya Pradesh government, told the Supreme Court that the decision on granting the sanction to prosecute the minister was still pending, Bar and Bench reported.
Mehta added that Shah’s remarks might have been misread.
Noting that what the minister had said was “unfortunate,” the solicitor general added that Shah “possibly wanted to praise the lady officer”, the legal news portal reported.
In response, the chief justice said that as a politician, the minister knows how to “articulately praise the lady officer”, Bar and Bench reported.
As per the status report submitted by the Special Investigation Team, Shah was also in the habit of making such comments, the bench added. “Let the state consider the totality of circumstances and take a call,” the legal news portal quoted the Supreme Court as adding.
The bench listed the matter after four weeks.
On May 13, 2025, Shah apologised and said that his remark should not be viewed “in a different context”. He said that he was ready to apologise “10 times” if his remark had hurt “society and religion”.
The minister has apologised another three times since, including in February.
On May 19, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected Shah’s apology and ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team to look into the matter. It also stayed his arrest and ordered him to join the investigation.
In August, the Special Investigation Team submitted its request to the state government for a sanction to prosecute the minister.
On January 19, the Supreme Court told the Madhya Pradesh government to decide within two weeks on granting the sanction to prosecute Shah.
A sanction from the state government is necessary for the court to take cognisance of the offence under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which pertains to the promotion of communal hatred and ill will.
In May 2025, the Haryana Police booked Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabadin for a social media post highlighting the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Qureshi.
He had said that the optics of the press briefings by Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh were important, “but optics must translate to reality on the ground otherwise it’s just hypocrisy”.
Mahmudabad was arrested on May 18, 2025, but was granted bail by the Supreme Court three days later.
On March 16, the Haryana government told the Supreme Court that it will not grant sanction to prosecute Mahmudabad. The court then quashed the criminal proceedings against him.
Edited by Sneha
You’ve read Scroll.
Now help sustain it
Scroll is funded by readers, not corporate owners. If you believe our work matters, support our newsroom. Become a member today!
We’re not driven by clicks or corporate interests – just honest, independent reporting. Keep us going. Support Scroll today!