What is the ‘scorpion on Shivling’ case on which even the High Court did not give relief to Tharoor? The case will be filed – Delhi High Court rejects Shashi Tharoor’s plea in defamation case over scorpion on Shivling remark for PM Narendra Modi

2024-08-29 11:43:30
New Delhi: Congress leader and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor will face a defamation case. The Delhi High Court dismissed Tharoor’s petition in the case of derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Tharoor had pleaded to the Delhi High Court to put a stay on the defamation case against him. In 2018, Tharoor had described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘scorpion sitting on a Shivling’. The High Court said that Shashi Tharoor did not give any concrete argument in his petition in favor of cancelling the case. During his address at the Bengaluru Literature Festival, Tharoor said that a person associated with the RSS had described Modi as a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. Tharoor had described it as a ‘very impressive metaphor’. Tharoor did not tell the Sangh who was the person who said this about Modi. Meanwhile, BJP leader Rajiv Babbar filed a case calling Tharoor’s statement derogatory. Babbar said in his FIR that his religious sentiments have been hurt by Tharoor’s statement.

He said, ‘I am a worshipper of Lord Shiva… The accused (Shashi Tharoor) has insulted crores of Shiva devotees like me and made such a statement which has hurt the sentiments of Shiva devotees in the country and abroad.’ On Babbar’s complaint, the police registered a case against Tharoor under Section 499 (contempt) and Section 500 (punishment for contempt) of the IPC.

On the FIR of the BJP leader, the trial court had summoned Shashi Tharoor as an accused on November 2, 2018. The Congress leader had moved the High Court against the trial court’s order in 2019. After being summoned by the trial court, Shashi Tharoor had said that the statement attributed to Modi was not his but that of Govardhan Jhadapia. He said that the BJP should file a case against Jhadapia.

Shashi Tharoor wrote in an ex-post, ‘Will BJP ask the judge to summon its in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Govardhan Jhadapia? It is surprising that BJP is after him for mentioning the statement which has been in the public domain for 7 years without any legal action.’