New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (October 14) extended by four weeks the stay on proceedings before the trial court against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in defamation case filed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader for his alleged “scorpion on Shivling” remarks targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice SVN Bhatti on Monday granted the Delhi Police and the complainant four weeks’ time to file their responses to the plea by Congress.
“The interim order (of stay on the defamation proceedings) to continue,” the bench said.
Apex court earlier on September 10 stayed proceedings against Tharoor at trial court
The apex court had earlier on September 10 stayed the proceedings in the defamation case against Tharoor at the trial court. The top court had stayed the direction of the Delhi High Court directing Tharoor to appear before the trial court on September 10.
Tharoor sought quashing of the trial court order dated April 27, 2019 summoning him as an accused in the criminal defamation complaint as well as quashing of the complaint.
Tharoor moved apex court against High Court order
Tharoor moved the top court against the Delhi High Court’s August 29 order refusing to quash defamation proceedings against him, saying that his alleged “scorpion on Shivling” remarks targeting Prime Minister Modi not only defamed Prime Minister Modi but also the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and also obliquely hurt the Hindu sentiments.
What did Tharoor allegedly say?
Tharoor, while speaking at Bangalore Literature Festival in 2018, had allegedly said, “… and this personality cult has not sat very well with many in the RSS establishment. There’s an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to journalist …….which I quote here, in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr. Modi, And the man says, “Mr. Modi”, he says is like a “scorpion sitting on a Shivling; you cannot remove him with your hand, and you cannot hit it with a chappal either.”
What has the complainant BJP leader said?
A complaint filed by BJP leader and complainant Rajiv Babbar has said that the imputation have been made defaming Prime Minister Modi, hurting the sentiments of crores of devotees of Lord Shiva, both in India as well as outside the country outraging their religious beliefs, apart from lowering down the credit and image of the complainant (Babbar), RSS, as well as tarnished the image of BJP, its leaders, supporters and workers in the eyes of general public.
