The High Court said it would monitor investigation into the case, saying that the FIR drafted by police did not “inspire the confidence of the court” and was “vulnerable to being quashed”.
Bhopal:Even as the Supreme Court will take up the case on Friday, The Madhya Pradesh High Court in Jabalpur on Thursday pulled up the police over their FIR against tribal welfare minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his remarks against Colonel Sofia Qureshi, observing it was “gross subterfuge on the state's part.”
In the Supreme Court, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai said: “What sort of statements are you making? You are a responsible minister of the government,”
The High Court said it would monitor investigation into the case, saying that the FIR drafted by police did not “inspire the confidence of the court” and was “vulnerable to being quashed”.
On May 12, the minister had said that terrorists had killed Hindus in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “used the sister of their (terrorists’) community against them,” apparently referring to Col. Sofia Qureshi who briefed the media during Operation Sindoor.
The police registered the FIR against the minister before midnight of Wednesday following a directive by the High Court.
A division bench of Justice Atul Shreedharan and Justice Anuradha Malik took note of the absence of the speech made by the minister near Mhow in Indore district in Madhya Pradesh on May 12, which constituted the offence, and without mention of the “acts of the suspect” in the FIR makes it vulnerable to being quashed by a court.
At this juncture, the court desists from trying to find out who was responsible in the chain of command of the state police for this clumsy attempt, the bench said. This court shall endeavour to find out the same in future proceedings, it said.
The court noted that the FIR only mentioned the direction of the court (to file FIR against the minister) and not the minister’s speech that constituted the offence.
Advocate general Prashant Singh argued that the May 14 order of the court had been annexed in the FIR. The court countered his argument, saying that it did not suffice.
Justice Shreedharan observed that the FIR has been drafted in such a manner that it could be quashed, if not this court, then by the Supreme Court on a plea that there is no mention of offence in the FIR.
“Who drafted the FIR? Where are the ingredients? The contents must be in the FIR,” the court said.
The court ordered that the entire May 14 order of the court be read as part of the FIR to make it sure that a ‘subterfuge’ does not happen.
Chief Minister Mohan Yadav had held a high-level official meeting here late on Wednesday night to discuss the issue after his return from Bengaluru. Sources said it has been left to the Central leadership to take a call on the minister’s fate.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Gavai said: Every word uttered by a minister has to be with a sense of responsibility at a time the country is undergoing “such a situation.”
The bench, also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, said the apex court would on Friday hear Shah's plea challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court's May 14 order directing an FIR against him for the comments.
“When this country is undergoing such a situation, every sentence or word uttered by a responsible minister has to be with a sense of responsibility,” the CJI told Shah's counsel.
The bench went on, “Persons holding such a constitutional office are expected to exercise a degree of restraint.”
