Delhi High Court refuses to quash defamation case against Tharoor for 'scorpion on shivling' remark targeting PM Modi

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to quash the defamation proceedings against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on a complaint over his alleged "scorpion on shivling" remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta dismissed Tharoor’s plea challenging the defamation proceedings.

The high court, which had on October 16, 2020, stayed the criminal proceedings against Tharoor, the Congress Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram, in the defamation complaint, vacated the interim order and directed the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.

“No grounds are made out for quashing the proceedings at this stage and it will be expedient in the interest of justice that the proceedings be permitted to continue before the trial court,” the judge said while pronouncing the order.

The high court said the defence, if any, needs to be considered by the trial court on the basis of evidence.

Tharoor had sought setting aside of the trial court’s April 27, 2019 order summoning him as an accused in the criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar. He had also sought quashing of the complaint of November 2, 2018.

The criminal complaint was filed against Tharoor in the trial court by Babbar, who had claimed that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's statement.

In October 2018, Tharoor had claimed that an unnamed RSS leader compared Prime Minister Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling". He termed it an "extraordinarily striking metaphor".

Tharoor was granted bail in the case in June 2019 by the trial court.

The complainant had said, "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." The complaint was filed under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).