Justice Anup Kumar Mendiratta issued the order, rejecting Tharoor’s request to quash the case. The Court also lifted its interim order that had paused the proceedings, directing the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday(29th Aug) refused to dismiss a criminal defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor related to a statement comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion.
Justice Anup Kumar Mendiratta issued the order, rejecting Tharoor’s request to quash the case. The Court also lifted its interim order that had paused the proceedings, directing the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.
“No grounds are made for quashing the proceedings at this stage,”
the Court stated.
The defamation case was filed by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, following Tharoor’s alleged remarks in November 2018 at the Bangalore Literature Festival, where he reportedly said, “Mr. Modi is a scorpion sitting on a Shivling.”
He described it as a powerful metaphor, attributed to an unnamed RSS source, conveyed to journalist Vinod Jose of ‘The Caravan,’ illustrating their frustration over their inability to control Modi.
Tharoor maintained that he was simply quoting someone else, Gordhan Zadaphia, and that the statement had been in the public domain for several years.
Tharoor’s legal team argued that he did not express any false opinions or make defamatory comments, but rather cited an existing journalistic piece. They contended that Babbar was not an “aggrieved person” under Section 499 IPC and accused him of misrepresenting the context of the speech.
The defense also argued that Babbar’s complaint was baseless and frivolous, and that the trial court’s issuance of summons was incorrect and contrary to criminal law principles.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, along with advocates Muhammad Ali Khan, Abhik Chimni, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, Uday Bhatia, Arjun Sharma, and Kamran Khan, represented Shashi Tharoor. Rajiv Babbar was represented by Senior Advocate Pinky Anand and advocates Piyush Beriwal, Neeraj, Saudamini Sharma, Samrath Pasricha, and Ojasvi.
