The Delhi High Court today dismissed Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's plea in which he had challenged the defamation proceedings against him launched on a complaint by a BJP leader over his "scorpion on Shivling" remark allegedly targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mehndiratta pronounced it order saying, "No grounds are made out for quashing the proceedings at this stage under Section 482 CrPC. It is in the interest of justice to permit the proceeding before the learned trial court to continue."

The Court said that the defence that the defamatory implications are covered by the exception of Section 499 IPC needs to be considered on the basis of evidence in its entirety.

"Interim orders are hereby vacated, parties are directed to appear before the learned trial court on September 10, 2024. Petition is accordingly, dismissed," the Court ordered.

It is to be noted that on December 7, 2023, the Court had granted Tharoor the final opportunity to file submissions in the plea. The Court had adjourned the matter until March 15, 2024 at the request of Tharoor's counsel and asked the lawyer to file written submissions. The Court, had however, made it clear that in case the matter is not argued on the next date of hearing, the petition will be decided on the basis of the written submissions.

Pertinently, on October 16, 2020, the Court had stayed the criminal proceedings against Tharoor on the defamation complaint.

Tharoor had sought setting aside of the trial court's April 27, 2019 order by which he was summoned as accused in the criminal defamation complaint. He had also sought quashing of the November 2, 2018 complaint.

His counsel had argued that the trial court's order was bad in law and against the settled principles of criminal jurisprudence, as it overlooked the fact that Babbar's complaint was "completely false and frivolous." In his complaint, Babbar had claimed his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's comments.

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

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

Cause Title: Dr. Shashi Tharoor v. State & Anr. [CRL.M.C. 1394/2020, CRL.M.A. 5381/2020]

Appearance:-

Petitioner: Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, Advocates Muhammad Ali Khan, Abhik Chimni, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, Uday Bhatia, Arjun Sharma, Kamran Khan

Respondent: Senior Advocate Pinky Anand, Advocates Piyush Beriwal, Neeraj, Saudamini Sharma, Samrath Pasricha, Ojasvi

Justice Anoop Kumar MendirattaDelhi High CourtShashi TharoorPrime Minister Narendra ModiNarendra Modi Defamation CaseShivling

Sukriti Mishra