New Delhi [India], January 19 : The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Madhya Pradesh government to consider and decide within two weeks the issue of granting sanction required for the court to take cognisance of offences alleged against BJP MLA Kunwar Vijay Shah over his scurrilous remarks against Colonel Sofia Qureshi.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant also, for the second time, expressed its dissatisfaction with the delayed public apology tendered by Shah.
During the hearing, counsel appearing for Shah submitted that the MLA had apologised and was cooperating with the investigation.
Responding to this, the CJI asked, "Where is that apology?"
When the counsel stated that the apology had been placed on record, the CJI remarked, "Now it is too late."
The counsel reiterated that Shah had been cooperating with the investigation, to which the CJI responded, "All of that is fine, but today, to say that he has tendered an apology... We have earlier also stated what kind of apology he has tendered."
The Court was hearing a matter in which it constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of a DIG, which submitted its report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover.
As per the Court's order, the SIT report reveals that various aspects of the incident were investigated, though certain instances were excluded. Following the investigation, the SIT submitted its report to the State government, seeking sanction under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) to prosecute Shah.
The Bench noted that a sanction under Section 196 of the BNS, which criminalises the promotion of enmity between groups based on religion, race, place of birth, and similar grounds, is required before a competent court can take cognisance of the offence.
"We direct the State of Madhya Pradesh to consider the grant of sanction as required under the law and in terms of the relevant paragraph of the SIT report," the Court ordered.
The Bench further directed that the SIT should make an endeavour to provide details of the instances attributed to Shah, with a brief reference as already made in paragraph 10.2 of the report.
The matter will now be considered after the State government takes a decision on the issue of sanction within the stipulated two-week period.