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The Supreme Court has pulled up Madhya Pradesh Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for not issuing a public apology over his remarks against Indian Army officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, saying he was ‘testing the court’s patience’.
As reported by PTI, A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi pointed out the minister’s conduct was prompting it to doubt his intentions and bona fide.
“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? He is testing our patience,” the bench said.
Senior advocate K Parmeshwar, appearing for Shah, said he had issued a public apology, which was shared online, and would be placed on court’s record.
“What is an online apology? We are starting to have doubts about his intentions and bonafide. You place the apology on record. We will have to see it,” the bench said.
It asked the special investigation team (SIT) constituted to probe the statements made by the minister to submit its report by August 13.
An SIT officer appeared in court with a sealed cover report, stating statements of 27 people examined by the probe team were currently under scrutiny.
The bench said statements of those whose sentiments were hurt should have been recorded by the SIT instead of Shah’s statements.
The bench, in the meantime, refused to examine a plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking Shah’s resignation but said some of the allegations made in the writ petition about the past instances would be looked into by the three-member SIT.
