‘Croc tears’: Supreme Court slams MP mantri Vijay Shah in Col Sofiya Qureshi row

NEW DELHI: Trashing Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah‘s “facade of an apology for the crass comments” aimed at Col Sofiya Qureshi, who briefed the media on Operation Sindoor, Supreme Court on Monday turned the heat on him by constituting an SIT of senior IPS officers, sought a probe status report by May 28, but stayed his arrest.The minister’s “if anyone is hurt” conditional apology riled a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh, which referred to the video of his speech and said, “You were about to use some abusive language but could not as the words failed you. We know how to deal with people like you. You cannot say anything and when called out, attempt to wriggle out by tendering a facade of an apology which is akin to shedding crocodile tears.”

The bench asked the Madhya Pradesh DGP to constitute the SIT by 10.30am Tuesday. It said members of the team should be senior IPS officers of MP cadre from outside the state, and one of them should be a woman. “We would like to keep a close watch on the probe, though we will not be monitoring it. The SIT will submit a report to us by May 28,” it said. The court said one IPS officer would be of IGP rank while the other two would be of SP rank.SC ordered that the FIR registered on the suo motu directions of MP high court be entrusted to the SIT. “The petitioner (minister) is directed to join the investigation and fully cooperate with it. Subject to that, as of now, his arrest will be stayed. We are not inclined to monitor the investigation.”You’re a public figure, show restraint and be responsible: SC to MP minister The SC bench did not let senior advocate Vivek Tankha intervene in the proceedings on behalf of a Congress functionary from Madhya Pradesh. “Let us not politicise it. There is no politics in it. Somebody has made crass comments. He is facing and he must face consequences. We are a nation governed by rule of law, which applies with the same rigour to the highest, and to the lowest,” it said.When senior advocate Maninder Singh, who appeared for Vijay Shah, said the minister had tendered an apology and felt remorse for his comments, Justice Kant said, “What kind of apology have you tendered? There is some meaning of apology.”“If this is your apology, it is rejected outright. It (Operation Sindoor) was such an emotive and uniting issue. Every citizen was standing in support of the armed forces, and you made such remarks. We are proud of our armed forces. They are in the frontline. Least we can do is to support them.”Singh said the minister was ready to apologise again without any condition. The bench was in a caustic mood and said, “Tomorrow you want to give the impression that I apologised again because the court asked me to do so. You made the crass comments on May 12 and today is May 19. What prevented you from making a sincere apology till now?”“You are a representative of the people, yet you hurt the sentiments of millions of citizens. You are a public figure. You must display some restraint and be responsible. The standards of responsibility for elected representatives are much higher. You should lead by example.”While posting the matter for further hearing on May 28, the bench told the minister to think of ways to redeem himself from the ignominious statement that shamed the entire nation.