MP HC unhappy with contents of FIR against minister Vijay Shah, asks police to include details

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction with the FIR registered by police on its orders against minister Vijay Shah regarding his objectionable remarks about Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, and said it must be comprehensive.

In its present form, the First Information Report is vulnerable to being quashed if challenged, noted a division bench of Justices Atul Shreedharan and Anuradha Shukla when it was placed before them to show compliance with the previous order.

The court's observation came even as Shah, the tribal affairs minister, moved the Supreme Court against the HC directive to register an FIR against him. The apex court will be hearing his plea on Friday.

The high court on Thursday said the police must include comprehensive details of the alleged offences in the FIR, and it must be aligned with its Wednesday order.

The police must ensure a fair investigation, said the bench.

On Wednesday, the high court had taken suo motu cognisance of the minister's controversial statements.

The FIR was accordingly registered against Shah in Indore district on Wednesday night under sections 152 (act endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India), 196(1)(B) (act adversely affecting mutual harmony between communities, likely to cause public unrest), and 197(1)(C) (statement targeting a member of a community with adverse effects on communal harmony) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Colonel Qureshi came into the spotlight for regularly holding press briefings alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh regarding 'Operation Sindoor', a military operation conducted last week by Indian armed forces targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).