THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, September 10: In a defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor related to his alleged remarks about a “scorpion on Shivling,” which were directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the trial court proceedings against him.
A bench consisting of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R. Mahadevan has issued a notice to both the Delhi government and the complainant in the case with a response required within four weeks.
Tharoor has appealed to the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court’s August 29 decision, which denied his request to dismiss the defamation proceedings against him.
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Complaint was filed by Rajeev Babbar
Tharoor had sought the annulment of the trial court’s April 27, 2019, order, which summoned him as an accused in the criminal defamation case initiated by Rajiv Babbar, along with the complaint from November 2, 2018.
In April 2019, a trial court issued a summons for Tharoor following a criminal defamation complaint lodged by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar in 2018. Tharoor was granted bail by a Delhi court in June 2019.
Babbar filed the criminal complaint against Tharoor in the trial court, alleging that the Congress leader’s statement had hurt his religious sentiments.
What remarks did Tharoor made?
At the Bangalore Literature Festival in October 2018, Tharoor claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling,” calling it an “extraordinarily striking metaphor.”
The complaint was registered under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
