SIT begins probe against Kunwar Vijay Shah; Supreme Court closes Madhya Pradesh HC proceedings

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the suo motu proceedings pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his remarks against against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had briefed the media during India's recent military operation against Pakistan..A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Datta took the decision in view of the fact that the Supreme Court is seized of the matter."Let High Court close the proceedings in view of case here (Supreme Court. Let there shall be no parallel proceedings," the Court said in its order..The Court had earlier constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of senior India Police Service (IPS) officers to probe the matter and also directed Shah to join the investigation, while staying his arrest in the meantime.During the hearing today, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Madhya Pradesh government, told the Court that SIT has been constituted and it has started probe. The Court was also told that Shah's mobile phone has been seized.The Supreme Court then noted the following in its order:"Status report by DIG Police has been filed. It is stated SIT of three IPS officers constituted and probe done on May 21. More material collected. Script of speech prepared and mobile phone seized. Witness statements recorded. Probe is in initial stage. More time prayed for. Post the matter post partial working days. Let probe continue and status report be filed then. Interim order to continue.".Shah had stirred controversy after he reportedly remarked: “Those who widowed our daughters, we sent a sister of their own to teach them a lesson. The comment was widely viewed as a veiled reference to Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of the Army officers who had briefed the media about India's recent cross-border military response, Operation Sindoor, against Pakistan.The controversial comment was made by Shah at a public event in Raikunda village, Ambedkar Nagar (Mhow). Shah's remark drew widespread criticism, with calls for his dismissal from office.Madhya Pradesh High Court on May 14 initiated a suo motu case Shah and directed registration of a criminal case against him. He then moved the top court. .The Supreme Court on May 19 granted him interim protection from arrest but made some strong remarks against him."The entire nation is ashamed of you. It is up to you how you redeem yourself," the Court said..[Read Live Coverage]