MP Govt in Dilemma Over Sanction to Prosecute Minister Shah
With the issue not found in the agenda of the state cabinet meeting, held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of chief minister Mohan Yadav, the state government’s dilemma on the matter became discernible.
Bhopal: With six days to go for the scheduled hearing in the case relating to the alleged communal remarks targeting Col. Sofya Qureshi by Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah, in the supreme court, the Mohan Yadav government is yet to take a decision whether to grant permission to prosecute him for this.
With the issue not found in the agenda of the state cabinet meeting, held here on Tuesday under the chairmanship of chief minister Mohan Yadav, the state government’s dilemma on the matter became discernible.
“The state government is mulling filing an affidavit in the supreme court before the August 31 scheduled hearing in the case, to make its stand clear as to whether it will grant permission to prosecute Mr. Shah or not”, a senior minister in the Mohan Yadav cabinet told this newspaper, requesting not to be quoted.
“All I can say now is that officially, the matter did not come up for discussion in the cabinet meeting, held on Tuesday”, he observed cryptically.
Sources said that the state government may have made up its mind not to grant permission to prosecute the minister in the case and may cite ‘valid reasons’ in support of its stand before the supreme court.
“The state government’s stand on the matter can be ascertained in three-four days”, sources disclosed.
The supreme court had earlier set a deadline for the state government to take a final decision on whether it will grant permission to prosecute the minister based on the final report submitted by the special investigation team (SIT) on the matter while fixing August 31 as the next date of hearing in the case.
Earlier, the apex court had pulled up the state government for sitting over the SIT report without taking any action on it.
The SIT, constituted by the supreme court to probe the matter, has sought the permission to prosecute the minister under Section 196 (1) (a) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (punishes anyone who uses words, signs, or electronic communication to promote hatred or enmity between different religious, racial, language or caste groups).
The minister landed him into trouble when he made communal remarks allegedly targeting Col. Qureshi while addressing a public meeting in a village in Mhow in Madhya Pradesh in May 2025, organized to celebrate the success of the ‘Operation Sindoor’.
He later apologized for his remarks but the supreme court held his apology too late.
