Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday suo motu directed the registration of an FIR against BJP leader and state minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his comment calling Colonel Sofiya Qureshi a "sister of terrorists".

The Court described his remarks as 'disparaging,' 'dangerous,' and 'language of the gutters'-not merely targeting the officer in question but denigrating the armed forces as a whole.

It further observed that, prima facie, offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, are made out against the minister. "The armed forces, perhaps the last institution existing in this country, reflecting integrity, industry, discipline, sacrifice, selflessness, character, honour and indomitable courage with which any citizen of this country who values the same can identify themselves with, has been targeted by Vijay Shah who has used the language of the gutters against Col Sofia Quraishi,” it said. A division bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Anuradha Shukla held that a prima facie offence under Section 152 of the BNS, which criminalises any act that endangers the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India, was attracted in the instant case.

"Prima facie, the statement of the minister that Col. Sofia Quraishi is the sister of the terrorist who carried out the attack at Pahalgam encourages feelings of separatist activities by imputing separatist feeling to anyone who is Muslim, which thereby endangers the sovereignty or unity and integrity of India," the bench noted.