New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to quash defamation proceedings against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor initiated on a complaint by a Bharataiya Janata Party (BJP) leader over his alleged “scorpion on Shivling” remarks targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Tharoor sought quashing of trial court order summoning him as an an accused, complaint
Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta dismissed the plea of Tharoor challenging the defamation proceedings initiated on a complaint filed by BJP leader and complainant Rajiv Babbar. Tharoor sought quashing of April 27, 2019 order of the trial court summoning him as an accused in the criminal defamation complaint as well as quashing of the complaint.
High Court also vacated interim order by which it had stayed criminal proceedings against Tharoor
The High Court also vacated the interim order by which it had stayed the criminal proceedings against the Congress leader and directed the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.
Justice Mendiratta, while pronouncing the verdict on Tharoor’s plea, said that no grounds are made out for quashing the proceedings in the case at this stage.
“No grounds are made out for quashing the proceedings,” the High Court said.
Tharoor was granted bail by the trial court in the case in June 2019.
According to PTI, Tharoor claimed that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling” and termed it an “extraordinarily striking metaphor”.
What did the complainant say?
Babbar, in his complaint, filed under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), claimed that Tharoor’s alleged comments hurt his religious sentiments and also the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees in India as well as outside the country.
“I am a devotee of Lord Shiva… However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees, (and) made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country,” complainant Babbar said in his complaint.