Supreme Court Asks MP Govt to Decide Sanction in Vijay Shah FIR Case Within Two Weeks

The Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions filed by Shah challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s suo motu order directing registration of an FIR against him.

At the outset, the CJI noted that by an order dated May 19, the Apex Court had directed the State of Madhya Pradesh to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of senior officers and had passed a subsequent order in the matter. The Director General of Police, the Court noted, had constituted the SIT and placed a sealed report before the court, which was opened in open court.

Referring to the contents of the report, the CJI observed that the SIT had examined various aspects of the incident. However, he pointed out that paragraph 10.2 of the report indicated that certain instances attributed to Shah had been excluded from the ongoing investigation.

The Bench further noted that the SIT had submitted its report to the state government seeking sanction, which is mandatory for the court to take cognisance of offences under Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The court was informed that the state government had not taken any decision on the request for sanction, citing the pendency of the matter before the Supreme Court.

“We are informed that no decision has been taken by the state government in view of the matter pending before this court,” the CJI recorded, before directing the State of Madhya Pradesh to place the issue of sanction for consideration and take an appropriate decision within two weeks.

The Bench also issued further directions to the SIT, asking it to furnish details of the specific instances attributed to Shah, including those mentioned in paragraph 10.2 of its report. The court directed that these details, along with the proposed course of action, be placed before the Supreme Court.

“Bench also directs the SIT to submit its report on the proposed action to be taken for the instances mentioned in para 10.2,” the Court ordered, while directing the state to file a compliance report on the next date of hearing.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Vijay Shah, submitted that his client had placed an apology on record and was fully cooperating with the inquiry. The submission, however, drew a sharp response from the Bench.

“It is too late to tender any apology,” the CJI remarked, adding that the court had earlier commented on the nature of the apology submitted by the petitioner.

Notably, in July 2025, the Court. had rapped Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for issuing an online apology for his comments made on Col. Sofia Qureshi. "Where is the apology?", the Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi had asked after the minister's counsel for not issuing a public apology for his alleged defamatory remarks. The bench went on to observe that the minister was testing its patience as his conduct was making the court doubt his intentions and bonafides.

Notably, the SIT formed to investigate the controversial remarks made by Shah informed the Supreme Court today that 27 persons have given their statements. "The SIT member present before us submits that the material gathered will now be analysed and the investigation will be taken to logical conclusion within the prescribed period of 90 days. The matter to now be taken up on August 18. Status report to be filed", Court accordingly had ordered.

Recently, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta had informed court that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had already been constituted and that the investigation was currently underway.

Case Title: Kunwar Vijay Shah vs. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh

Bench: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi

Hearing Date: January 19, 2026