Delhi HC rejects plea to quash defamation charges against Tharoor’s “scorpion on shivling” remark about PM

Delhi High Court refuses to quash defamation proceedings against Shashi Tharoor over "scorpion on shivling" remark against PM Modi.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday (August 29, 2024) refused to quash the defamation proceedings against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on a complaint regarding his alleged “scorpion on shivling” remark, made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“No grounds are made for quashing the proceedings at this stage,” the court said, rejecting Mr Tharoor’s plea. The High Court also vacated its October 2020 order staying proceedings against the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram and directed the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.

Mr. Tharoor had sought to quash the April 2019 order of a trial court summoning him on a criminal defamation complaint filed in 2018 by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.

Mr. Tharoor had allegedly claimed in October 2018 that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader had compared Mr. Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”.

The former Union minister had also sought quashing of the complaint itself, which was filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to defamation. In June 2019, a Delhi court had granted bail to Mr. Tharoor in relation to the case.

In his complaint, Mr. Babbar said that Mr. Tharoor had made the alleged scandalous remarks at the Bangalore Literature Festival. He said the Congress leader’s statement was not only “an abuse of the Hindu deity but also defamatory and an insult to BJP workers, supporters and leaders”. He added that his religious sentiments were hurt by the statement as it was not only “baseless but also misleading and defamatory”.