SC orders SIT probe into BJP MLA’s remarks about Colonel Sofia Qureshi, rejects apology

Rejecting the apology by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah for his remarks purportedly targeting Colonel Sofia Qureshi, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team to look into the matter, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh stayed Shah’s arrest and ordered him to join the investigation, according to The Indian Express.

“We are constituting a SIT with three IPS [three Indian Police Service] officers and one should be the rank of IG [Inspector General of Police] or DGP [Director General of Police] rank,” Bar and Bench quoted the bench as saying. “All of them should be [from] outside the state. It is a litmus test and we want the state to submit the SIT report to us. We would like to have a very close watch.”

One of the three Indian Police Service officers in the team should be a woman, the bench added. It ordered the director general of police to constitute the SIT by 10 am on Tuesday.

The matter pertains to remarks made by the BJP leader at an event in Mahu on May 13.

Shah had said that those who had widowed the daughters of India had been taught a lesson by Prime Minister Narendra Modi...

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