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'Crocodile tears': SC rejects BJP minister's apology over Col Sofiya Qureshi remarks
Colonel Qureshi was one of the two officers, along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, who briefed the media about the military aspects of Operation Sindoor.
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned Madhya Pradesh BJP minister Kunwar Vijay Shah’s apology for his remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, asking if they were ‘crocodile tears’ to wriggle out of legal proceedings.
Colonel Qureshi was one of the two officers, along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, who briefed the media about the military aspects of Operation Sindoor.
The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh said that the court didn't need the apology given by the minister.
"The kind of crass comments you made, completely thoughtlessly... We don't need this apology," the court said, adding that it seemed like ‘crocodile tears' to avoid legal proceedings.
The apex court told the minister that, being a public representative, he should use every single word sensibly.
“We saw your videos; you were on the verge of using filthy language,” the bench remarked during the hearing.
The court directed the Madhya Pradesh state police to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the episode. The SIT, the bench ordered the Madhya Pradesh director general of police (DGP), should be set up by May 20, Tuesday, and comprise three senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, including a woman officer, of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.
The court also stipulated that all three officers “should be (from) outside the state” and should be led by an officer of at least Inspector General of Police rank. The other two members should not be below the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP).
What did the MP minister Kunwar Vijay Shah say about Col Sofiya Qureshi?
In a video of a public address that went viral on social media, Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah had referred to Colonel Sofiya Qureshi as ‘sister of terrorists’.
“Those who widowed our daughters, we sent a sister of their own to teach them a lesson,” Shah had said in an apparent reference to Colonel Qureshi after India's Operation Sindoor.
Operation Sindoor was India's response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, where terrorists killed 26 people in a meadow near the Jammu and Kashmir resort town. The Armed forces targeted terror infrastructure in PoK and Pakistan's Punjab province early on May 7, killing more than 100 terrorists.
