Supreme Court pulls up MP minister for remarks on Sofiya Qureshi: 'Go apologise, show some sensibility'

Colonel Qureshi, a senior Indian Army officer, had conducted press briefings alongside foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, providing updates on Operation Sindoor

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up  Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his remarks on  Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.

Chief Justice of India, BR Gavai, described the minister's comments as "unacceptable and insensitive".  "What sort of comments are you making? You should show some sense of sensibility. Go and apologise in High Court. Holding a constitutional position, you should have exercised a degree of restraint, especially when the country is undergoing such a situation," he said.

Colonel Qureshi, a senior Indian Army officer, had conducted press briefings alongside foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, providing updates on Operation Sindoor, India’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

During an event in Indore on Monday, BJP minister Vijay Shah, in an apparent reference to Colonel  Qureshi, said, “Those who widowed our daughters, we sent a sister of their own to teach them a lesson.” He was referring to the Operation Sindoor carried out in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives.

“The country’s honour and respect and the marital bliss of our sisters can be avenged by sending the sisters of your community to Pakistan," said the minister.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the remarks, saying that the mentality of the BJP and its ideological source, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has “always been anti-women."

According to Hindustan Times, the court agreed to hear Shah’s plea seeking a stay on the FIR against him on Friday butit declined to halt the ongoing proceedings in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had suo motu ordered the registration of the FIR against the BJP minister.

Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had deemed derogatory, communal and sexist comments made by Vijay Shah regarding Colonel Sofiya Qureshi to be “dangerous" and “disparaging". Taking suo motu cognizance of the matter, the high court earlier directed the state police chief to file a First Information Report against Vijay Shah.

“The armed forces, perhaps the last institution existing in this country, reflecting integrity, industry, discipline, sacrifice, selflessness, character, honour and indomitable courage… has been targeted by Mr. Vijay Shah who has used the language of the gutters against Col. Sofiya Quraishi," the court said.