Defamation case against Tharoor over ‘scorpion’ remark stayed by SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court granted an interim stay of trial court proceedings on Tuesday in a defamation case brought by a BJP leader against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, alleging that the latter made a remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, referring to him as a "scorpion sitting on a Shivling".

"Eventually, it's a metaphor. I have tried to understand, the metaphor referred to the invincibility of the person that is being spoken about, perhaps. Can the metaphor be not understood as something pointing towards invincibility of the person?" observed a bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy.

Justice Roy said that metaphor is capable of being understood in different ways, wondering "why somebody has taken an objection here".

Staying the defamation proceedings till the next of listing, the Bench, also comprising Justice R. Mahadevan, took note of the submission that “none had a grievance to the article and the uttered sentence, as published in ‘The Caravan’ magazine".

"Issue notice, returnable in four weeks. Further proceedings pursuant to the impugned judgment (of the high court) are stayed until the returnable date," it ordered.

Tharoor’s plea was mentioned before the CJI D.Y. Chandrachud-led bench on Monday when it was rising after hearing all the matters listed on board.

"He (Tharoor) moved the Delhi High Court for quashing but it was dismissed on 29th August. Immediately, within a week, a special leave petition was filed before the apex court," said the counsel representing the senior Congress leader.

At this, CJI Chandrachud said: "Just circulate an email to the Registrar (Listing). I am going to attend all of them right now."

On August 29, the Delhi High Court dismissed Tharoor's plea for quashing the criminal defamation case filed by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar.

Asking the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10, a bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta of the high court vacated its earlier interim order, staying the proceedings pending before the lower court.

Babbar instituted the case against Tharoor over the latter's 'scorpion' remark vis-a-vis PM Modi made in 2018 at the Bengaluru Literature Festival. In his complaint, Babbar alleged that his religious sentiments were hurt by Tharoor's statement. The BJP leader claimed that the senior Congress leader completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees by insulting their religious beliefs and filed a complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of the now-repealed Indian Penal Code (IPC).

With inputs from IANS