PM Modi 'Scorpion' remark: Shashi Tharoor moves SC against proceedings, court to hear matter on Sept 10

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up his plea urgently against an order for his personal appearance on September 10 before a Delhi court in a defamation case filed by BJP leader, Rajiv Babbar. The case is in respect to his alleged 2018 statement comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a scorpion.

A bench led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy would consider the matter on Tuesday.

The senior Congress leader had allegedly made the statement -- "Mr Modi is a scorpion sitting on a Shivling" -- in November 2018 at the Bangalore Literature Festival.

After this, Babbar filed the defamation case against Tharoor.

On a request made by his counsel for urgent hearing, a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud with Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked him to send an email.

"We will look at it," the court told the counsel.

On August 9, 2024, the Delhi High Court rejected Tharoor's request to dismiss the criminal defamation case.

Justice Anup Kumar Mendiratta had said that the previous interim order halting the proceedings has been overturned, and the parties involved are now required to appear before the trial court on September 10.

The court found no sufficient grounds to quash the case at this point.

"There are no justifiable reasons to dismiss the proceedings at this stage," the HC said.

Tharoor, on his part, contended that he was merely echoing a quote from Gordhan Zadaphia, which has been publicly available for several years.

He claimed the comments were not his own opinions but a repetition of an existing statement.

"So, the complainant lacked standing under Section 499 (Defamation) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) to file the case."

His plea claimed that the complaint was "baseless and misleading".