The Supreme Court on Monday, May 19, rejected the apology submitted by Madhya Pradesh Tribal Welfare Minister Vijay Shah for his offensive remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of three senior Army officials who briefed the media on Operation Sindoor. The Court condemned Shah’s comments as “crass” and “completely thoughtless,” with Justice Surya Kant describing the apology as insincere “crocodile tears.”
In a strong rebuke, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh said the minister’s statement was unbecoming of a public figure. “You are a seasoned politician and a public servant. You should weigh your words. You were on the verge of using abusive language and only stopped because you couldn’t find the word,” the bench observed.
The Court announced the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the FIR registered against Shah. The SIT will include three senior IPS officers, with a requirement that at least one be a woman. The move reflects the Court’s serious view of the minister’s conduct and commitment to an impartial investigation.
“The kind of crass comments you made, completely thoughtlessly – what prevented you from making a sincere attempt at a real apology? We don’t require your apology. We know how to proceed according to the law,” Justice Kant said during the hearing.
At the center of the controversy is a communal remark made by Shah at a recent public event, in which he referred to Colonel Qureshi – a senior Army officer involved in India’s military response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam – as being from “the same community” as people in Pakistan. He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent her to avenge the attack, in a statement widely condemned as divisive and inappropriate.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi is a distinguished officer who played a leading role in the Indian Army’s Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
