SC deadline for MP govt to decide on prosecuting minister for Col Qureshi remarks

The Supreme Court on Monday admonished the Madhya Pradesh government for sitting on a Special Investigation Team (SIT) report for five months and ordered it to decide within two weeks whether to grant sanction to prosecute state minister Kunwar Vijay Shah over inflammatory remarks he made about Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi after Operation Sindoor.

Shah’s comments — widely seen as communal and derogatory — triggered outrage but have been left to gather dust in the corridors of power rather than prompt action.

Shah, a tribal affairs minister, sparked a political storm in May 2025 when a video from a public event showed him making an offensive reference to Col Qureshi, a respected Army officer who became a national face of the Operation Sindoor briefings.

In that speech, he suggested that because “they [terrorists] made our sisters widows, so Modi ji sent their own sister to strip them and teach them a lesson” — a remark widely taken as implying that as a Muslim herself, Col Qureshi was akin to the 'sister' of the Pahalgam terror attackers who killed 26 Hindu men, an assertion that was seen as communal, sexist and deeply disrespectful to the Army.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi noted that the SIT has completed its investigation and submitted its final report, but further action is frozen because the state has not granted the mandatory sanction under section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) required for prosecuting a minister in such cases.

“You (state government) have been sitting over the SIT report since 19 August 2025. The statute casts an obligation on you and you must take a call. It is 19 January 2026 now,” the CJI reprimanded the state.

The judges perused the sealed cover report on Monday and directed Madhya Pradesh to “take an appropriate step for sanction in terms of law”, setting a two-week deadline for the government to decide and file a compliance report.

The court also told the SIT to investigate other alleged objectionable remarks by Shah and issue a separate report on those. The Bench rejected the state’s defence that inaction was because “the matter was pending here”, stressing plainly, “The investigation is complete. The state must now take a call.”

Monday’s order starkly contrasts with the state government’s earlier response to the controversy, when it appeared to circle the wagons around Shah rather than swiftly address the public and judicial backlash. After the video surfaced, the Madhya Pradesh High Court described his remarks as “language of the gutters” and, taking suo motu cognisance, directed police to register an FIR against him on charges including promoting enmity and hatred. Only then was an SIT constituted to probe the episode.

The Supreme Court, too, has repeatedly signalled impatience with the minister’s conduct and the state’s passive enabling. The CJI on Monday said it was “too late” for any remorse from Shah: “It is too late to tender any apology. We had earlier commented on what kind of apology was submitted.”

On 28 July 2025, the court had admonished the minister for failing to place a public apology on record, warning that he was “testing the court’s patience” and noting that his posture raised doubts about his “intentions and bona fides”. Shah’s counsel had claimed he had posted an apology online, prompting the court to retort, “What is an online apology? We are starting to have doubts about his intentions and bona fides. You place the apology on record. We will have to see it.”

The SIT was originally ordered to file its report by 13 August 2025, after the Supreme Court shut down parallel proceedings in the high court and demanded a status update. Even then, the state made no real move against the minister, and only after intense judicial scrutiny did Shah express regret, claiming he respected Col Qureshi “more than his sister”.

Five months later, the SIT’s findings remain suspended in bureaucratic limbo — a situation the Supreme Court has now given Madhya Pradesh precisely a fortnight to remedy.

With PTI inputs