Remarks on Col Sofia Qureshi: SIT files status report; SC to hear MP minister’s plea on Wednesday

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the controversial remarks made by Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah on Army officer Colonel Sofia Qureshi has filed its status report in the Supreme Court.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta on Tuesday asked the apex court registry to take on record the report.

The top court had last week directed the state police chief to form an SIT of three senior IPS officers, including a woman officer, to probe the FIR registered against the BJP minister.

“The SIT shall be headed by an officer not below the rank of Inspector General of Police, and the remaining two members shall also be in the rank of Superintendent of Police or above. The investigation of the subject FIR shall be entrusted to the SIT forthwith,” the bench said in its order passed on May 19.

Following the court directive, Madhya Pradesh DGP Kailash Makwana constituted the SIT on the same day, comprising IG, Sagar Range, Pramod Verma (2001 batch IPS), DIG, SAF, Kalyan Chakraborty (2010 batch), and Dindori SP Vahini Singh (2014 batch).

Meanwhile, the court will hear on Wednesday a special leave petition filed by the minister challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court order, directing the registration of the FIR against him.

The FIR was filed against Shah under Sections 152, 196(1)(b), and 197 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Shah made the controversial remark at a public programme in Raikunda village near the Mhow region of Indore district on May 12.

Talking about the success of Operation Sindoor, Shah had said, “Those who wiped sindoor off our daughters’ forehead... we sent their sister to teach them a lesson”, alluding to Col Qureshi as a “sister of terrorists”.

His remarks had sparked an outrage, prompting the Madhya Pradesh High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the incident and give directions to file an FIR against him.

Shah later tendered an apology, terming his controversial remarks as a “linguistic mistake”.

India