On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected Madhya Pradesh Minister Vijay Shah's apology for his "crass remarks" about Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, one of the Army officials briefing the media on Operation Sindoor. The court criticised the apology as insincere, describing it as "crocodile tears" and condemned Shah’s comments as "completely thoughtless."
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00:00And first up, we get you breaking details on MP Mantri Vijay Shah, where the top court
00:10has rejected the Mantri's apology.
00:13The Supreme Court has formed an SIT with three IPS officers to probe his statement.
00:19In fact, the Supreme Court has made a key observation saying that the inspector rank
00:23officer will lead the special investigation team.
00:27The Supreme Court has also said that an apology was only a bid to avoid severe consequences
00:34as the heat on the MP Mantri continues for the remarks that he had made against Colonel
00:40Qureshi.
00:45Srishti Ojha joining us on the phone line to take us through the key details of what transpired
00:50in the top court and the strong observations made as the court said that the entire nation
00:56is ashamed of the remarks made by the Mantri.
01:05Srishti?
01:05Well, yes, definitely the Supreme Court has come down heavily on BJP Minister Vijay Shah
01:11for the statements made by him.
01:13The court has called the statements crass, completely unfortunate, thoughtlessly made,
01:17also remarking that he was at the verge of using extremely filthy and abusing his language
01:22while he made those remarks.
01:23What's important to however point out here is that Vijay Shah has managed to get some relief
01:27from the Supreme Court.
01:28The court has granted him instant protection from arrest, stating that while he must face
01:32consequences of what he has done, the law needs to take its own course.
01:36The court has constituted a three-member special investigative team to further probe into the
01:41SIR against him.
01:43These three members will be senior IPS officers, while they will belong to MP Kader.
01:47They will not be persons who belong to the state of Madhya Pradesh.
01:50The court has also asked the SIR to submit a report of their investigation by 28th May.
02:01While the court has not used the word monitoring, it has stated that it will keep a close watch
02:06on the investigation that is going on, on the investigation that will be conducted by
02:11SIR against Vijay Shah.
02:13Not just that, the court has completely rejected his apology, stating the apology has only been
02:18made to wriggle out of the consequences of the actions.
02:22The court also said that Vijay Shah had ample time to make a genuine apology, acknowledging
02:28the statements that he has made and the fact that it has hurt the sentiments of people.
02:32But however, he did not do that.
02:34The apology used the word, if he has done something which was not the right manner to have apologized
02:39for the statements that he made.
02:41Court clearly said that he is a public figure, a seasoned politician.
02:45He should have weighed his words and also he should have been more responsible.
02:51So, as of now, the court has clarified that it will be keeping a close watch on the investigation
02:56against Vijay Shah.
02:58The SIR has to submit a report by 28th May before the Supreme Court and it will be important
03:03to see what the top, firstly what the SIR will have to say and secondly, what the top court
03:07will do once that report comes in.
03:09Back to you.
03:09Oh yes, absolutely.
03:10Shushri, many thanks for getting us the latest of what happened in the top court.
03:13Meanwhile, we play out that earlier statement of the minister that led him to invite such
03:19people to stand up for theika.
03:26I was hoping to say that the other people are not really interested in doing the same thing.
03:32Thank you, sir.
03:33I'm sorry.
03:34I'm sorry.
03:34Okay.
03:35I'm sorry.
03:35Here you go.
03:36I'm sorry.
03:37I'm sorry.
03:38I'm sorry.
03:38Shishti, I want to come back to you
04:08because the nation is ashamed of the statement
04:10that was made by the mantri in the first place
04:12and several questions that also came to light
04:14of whether the BJP was trying to shield him.
04:18The mantri of course apologising
04:19but the Supreme Court came down very clear
04:21that he's probably done this only to evade the consequences.
04:27Well, definitely today during the hearing
04:29when we saw Vijay Shah's counsel point out
04:31that he has expressed remorse
04:32and also apologised for his statements
04:34the court was not in the mood to accept his apology at all
04:37the court questioned what kind of an apology
04:40was made by Vijay Shah in the first place
04:42and we're taking that sometimes apologies are made
04:45either the statements that are made are just crocodile tears
04:47or at times the statements are made
04:49to wriggle out of consequences
04:51and eventually we also saw the top court say
04:53that we completely reject this apology
04:55we don't accept your apology
04:57because the apology has only been made
04:59so Vijay Shah could wriggle out of the consequences
05:01of his actions.
05:02The court has made it very clear
05:03that he must face consequences of the statements
05:06that he has made.
05:07The top court also pointed out the situation
05:10during which the statements were made
05:12stating that it was a very emotive issue
05:16the country was going through a very sensitive situation
05:18again reiterating that the country and the top court
05:21is proud of its armed sources.
05:23Such a statement should not have come from a person
05:26who's a seasoned politician
05:27he should have been more responsible with his words
05:30the fact that he's representing many people
05:32there are certain expectations
05:33that those people have
05:35from a public figure
05:38like Vijay Shah.
05:39So the court has come down heavily on him
05:41for a statement
05:42the court has however granted him
05:44interim relief, interim protection
05:45from arrest
05:47while also constituting an SIT.
05:49What's also important is that
05:50we also saw the top court question
05:52the state of Madhya Pradesh today
05:53with regard to their investigation
05:55saying that they probably should have done something more.
05:58The court has said that look at the difference of the state
06:01and the position of the suspect
06:02being Vijay Shah
06:03and the investigating officer
06:05which is also one reason that the court has clearly clarified
06:08that this clearly directed that the three members of the SIT
06:11would be senior IPS officers
06:13and would not belong to Madhya Pradesh
06:15while they will be from the N.T. Kader
06:17one of those officials will have to be a female officer
06:20the court has not used the word monitoring in its order
06:24but has said that it will continue to keep a close watch
06:27on the investigation
06:29which will be carried on by the SIT.
06:32One more thing that we've seen the court point out
06:34was that it's been days since that
06:36since this most unfortunate statement
06:39as the court called it
06:40was made by Vijay Shah
06:41however, he has not done anything
06:43to apologize and acknowledge and
06:46you know, take responsibility
06:47of the statements that were made by him
06:51instead he just gave an apology
06:52that was only to get out of the consequences of his action.
06:55So, it was a very important detail hearing
06:58that took place before the top court
06:59the fact that they have directed an SIT to be constituted
07:03in a sense is very big
07:04while it's true that Vijay Shah has gotten some interim relief
07:07the matter will be probed and will also be monitored
07:10or the court will basically be keeping a close watch
07:13on what exactly will happen
07:14as far as this investigation is concerned.
07:17Oh, yes, absolutely.
07:18Srishti Anwar, thank you for getting us the latest
07:20because even when he apologized
07:22he went on to say that
07:23if I've said something wrong
07:25then I apologize
07:27and he was pulled up in the top court
07:29put this too.
07:30To put this into context
07:31we play out that later statement
07:33by Minister Vijay Shah
07:34where he clarified
07:36and tried to clarify his comment.
07:38We don't have to think about it.