New Delhi, 18 January (H.S.): The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday, January 19, a petition from Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah challenging a High Court directive to register an FIR against him for allegedly employing language of the gutters towards Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
The controversy traces back to May 11, 2025, when Shah, during a public rally in Mhow, Indore, referenced Colonel Qureshi—who spearheaded press briefings on Operation Sindoor, India's retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack—in deeply offensive terms.
Alluding to terrorists stripping Hindu victims, he claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispatched their [terrorists'] sister via Army plane to strip them in reprisal, widely interpreted as a slur linking Qureshi's Muslim identity to Pakistanis. Shah later termed it a linguistic mistake in a May 24 video apology, expressing regret without qualifiers like if anyone was hurt, yet the Supreme Court on July 28, 2025, rebuked him for testing the court's patience over an unrecorded public apology.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justices Dipankar Datta, and Joymalya Bagchi will adjudicate Shah's challenge to the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order mandating FIR registration. On May 19, 2025, the apex court had ordered a Special Investigation Team (SIT)—headed by IG Pramod Verma with DIG Kalyan Chakraborty and SP Vahini Singh—to probe the remarks, demanding a preliminary report by May 28 amid national outrage branding Shah a national shame.
The SIT interrogated Shah on July 19 in Jabalpur for 25 minutes, but forensic analysis stalled due to lab limitations; Shah has since absented public events amid protests and opposition demands for his sacking by CM Mohan Yadav.
Congress chief Jitu Patwari decried the cabinet's tacit endorsement absent dismissal, while BJP faces scrutiny over Shah's proximity to Modi. The saga underscores tensions between political rhetoric and military honor, with Colonel Qureshi's poised Operation Sindoor briefings—alongside Wing Commander Vyomika Singh—cementing her as a national icon now ensnared in communal crossfire.
Shah's expressed remorse notwithstanding, the impending hearing could dictate his political fate and set precedents for ministerial accountability.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
