Remarks on Sofiya Qureshi: Supreme Court gives two-week deadline for sanction to prosecute Vijay Shah

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 19, 2026) gave the Madhya Pradesh government two weeks to decide on a request for sanction to prosecute State Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah, accused of making disparaging remarks against Army officer, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi.

Ms. Qureshi had briefed the media during Operarion Sindoor. The apex court had taken seriously exception against Mr. Shah, setting up a Special Investigation Team to probe the case against him.

The request for prosecution sanction was made to the State government in August 2025.

“We are in January 2026 now,” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant addressed senior advocate Sridhar Pottaraju, appearing for the State.

Mr. Pottaraju said the hold-up may be due to the fact that Mr. Shah’s present petition seeking quashing for the FIR against him was pending in the highest court of the land.

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, for Mr. Shah, said he had apologised online. Mr. Singh said his client was cooperating with the investigation.

“You keep on cooperating. It is too late now for all that [apology],” Chief Justice Kant observed, heading a three-judge Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi.

The Court said the State must file a status report before the next hearing.

In July 2025, the Supreme Court had questioned the nature of the “online” apology issued by Mr. Shah for his remarks against Col. Qureshi.

At the time, the top court had said the Minister was “testing the court’s patience”.

“What do you mean by an apology like this? He made the statement on the first date itself. We are talking about a public apology. Where is it on record?” the court had asked Mr. Shah’s side.