The Madhya Pradesh High Court had called the words “scurrilous” and “language of the gutters,” directing police to register an FIR for promoting enmity and hatred.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted all proceedings pending in the Madhya Pradesh High Court against state minister Vijay Shah, ruling that it alone will monitor the probe into his alleged derogatory comments about Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.
A vacation Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta directed the three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) — set up by the state on the Court’s orders of 19 May — to file a status report after seizing “certain devices” linked to the case. The matter will be heard next in the second week of July.
“Since this Court is seized of the issue, all parallel proceedings before the High Court stand closed,” the Bench said, adding that its earlier stay on Shah’s arrest remains in force.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta told the Court that the High Court was simultaneously hearing petitions demanding action against the minister. The judges said allowing separate forums could “politicise the issue” and refused to entertain third-party interventions.
A video circulated earlier this month purportedly shows Shah making offensive remarks about Colonel Qureshi during media briefings on Operation Sindoor, India’s ongoing counter-terror operation.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had called the words “scurrilous” and “language of the gutters,” directing police to register an FIR for promoting enmity and hatred.
On May 19, the Supreme Court formed an SIT and put a hold on any coercive action against the minister.
Following widespread criticism, Shah publicly apologised, saying he “respects Col Qureshi more than my own sister.”
