New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday welcomed the Madhya Pradesh High Court's initiation of a suo motu case against state minister Vijay Shah for his alleged remarks on Colonel Sofia Qureshi.

The high court on Wednesday slammed Shah for passing "scurrilous" remarks and using "language of the gutters" against Colonel Qureshi, and ordered the police to file an FIR against him for promoting enmity and hatred.

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Taking suo motu cognisance of Shah's controversial statements, a division bench of Justices Atul Shridharan and Anuradha Shukla said his remarks have the propensity to cause disharmony, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between members of different religions.

"Welcome the MP High Court's initiation of a suo motu case against the BJP minister, for his reprehensible comments on Col. Sofia Qureshi," CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby said in a post on X.

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"There should be no place for communal venom in public life. Those who have assumed office by taking an oath according to the Indian Constitution have the additional responsibility of protecting our constitutional values like secularism and promoting harmony," he said.

Madhya Pradesh minister Shah hit the headlines after a video, which went viral, showed him purportedly making objectionable remarks against Col Qureshi, who was a prominent face of the armed forces along with Wing Commander Vyomika Singh during media briefings on Operation Sindoor.

After drawing severe condemnation, the tribal affairs minister said if anyone is hurt by his statement, he is ready to apologise 10 times, adding that he respects Col Qureshi more than his sister.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)