AA Edit | Court FIR on MP Minister Good Step in War on Hate

The intervention of the Madhya Pradesh high court ordering the registration of a first information report against the state’s tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah for what the court called “cancerous, dangerous and disparaging” comments against an officer of the Indian Army is a welcome step that could go a long way in mitigating the effects of the hate campaign a section of the right wing in the country has been engaged for quite some time now.

The court was categorical that the minister’s comment that India has “taught a lesson to those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack by using their own sister”, a disparaging reference to Col Sofiya Qureshi who briefed the media on Operation Sindoor, attracted several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including those covering acts that endanger the sovereignty and integrity of India, adversely affect mutual harmony between communities, are likely to cause public unrest, and targeting a member of a particular community.

What makes it heart-warming is that the court had insisted on initiating legal proceedings against the minister instead of customarily expressing its disdain for his remarks and leaving it at that. It went on to issue a deadline for the registration of the FIR and cautioned the police that they will face contempt of court proceedings should they fail to execute its order. The court displayed the seriousness it attached to the issue when it commented that the FIR did not reflect the seriousness of the crime the minister allegedly committed. The Supreme Court also found the case not to be one warranting an immediate intervention and instead reminded him of the language he ought to use while being in office.

That India survived the diabolic design of terrorists to create a religious divide by condemning to death innocent, unsuspecting people and summarily executing them because of their faith is no less than a miracle, even as the relatives of several of the victims came out in the open refusing to subscribe to a tit-for-tat hate agenda. But together they defeated the terrorists and their nefarious designs. There were, of course, a section of hate-mongers who could not stomach this and launched their own hate campaign against them instead. A united India ultimately beat the unholy alliance of the terrorists and the hate-mongers.

It is India’s misfortune that a section of the ruling dispensation survives and thrives on communal propaganda, and the Madhya Pradesh minister undoubtedly belongs to this group. It is unimaginable for a sane Indian to call an Indian soldier kin of a terrorist with no proof to substantiate the outrageous claim. The minister was simply branding the community to which the soldier belonged under the guise of opposing the terrorists. It was a dogwhistle for his followers. The judicial intervention has fortunately stopped this group in their tracks.

It is unthinkable that a person holding a constitutional post should blithely throw a soldier to rabid hate-mongers simply because she was doing her job. The Madhya Pradesh chief minister must sack his colleague for this wrongdoing. An FIR was lodged against Mr Shah late on May 14. There is no scope for half-measures in this case.