Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
The Supreme Court on Friday extended the ban on lower court proceedings in a defamation case filed against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for the alleged ‘Shivaling on’ scorpion comment, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Supreme Court, while extending the ban, also asked the complainant’s counsel that ‘why are they getting so emotional’. A bench of Supreme Court Judge MM Sundresh and Judge N. Kotishwar Singh passed the order after postponing the hearing on the request of Tharoor.
The court said- Let’s stop it …
The lawyer appearing on behalf of the complainant, BJP leader Rajiv Babbar demanded a hearing on the Chief Action Day. The bench while determining the hearing of the case for September 15 said, ‘Is Special Action Day? Why are you so emotional about all this? Let’s close it. ‘
Know what was the argument of Tharoor’s lawyer?
Tharoor turned to the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court’s 29 August 2024 order. The High Court refused to cancel the defamation proceedings against him and asked him to appear in the lower court on 10 September. Tharoor’s lawyer had earlier argued that neither the complainant nor the political party members could be called the aggrieved side.
Article was published in the magazine
The lawyer also said that Tharoor’s comment is preserved under the defamation law exempted, which determines that any statement made from ‘goodwill’ is not criminal. It said that Tharoor had given reference to an article published in Caravan magazine six years ago.
The court expressed surprise
The Supreme Court had surprised that when the article was originally published in 2012, the statement was not considered a defamatory. Justice Roy had earlier said, ‘Finally, this is a metaphor. I have tried to understand. This reflects the indirectness of the person (Modi) which is mentioned. I do not know why no one has objected to this. ‘
Allegations like ‘scorpion on Shivling’
Refusing to cancel the proceedings against Tharoor, the High Court had said that prima facie, allegations like ‘scorpion on Shivling’ against the Prime Minister are ‘disgusting and condemnable’. The court said that prima facie, this remark has defamated the Prime Minister, BJP as well as its officials and members. The High Court also said that there is enough material to summon Tharoor to the Judicial Magistrate under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Religious sentiments were hurt
The complainant alleged that the Congress leader’s remarks hurt his religious sentiments. In October 2018, Tharoor allegedly claimed that an anonymous RSS leader compared Modi to ‘Sitting on Shivling’. The Congress leader allegedly stated that this is an ‘extraordinary metaphor’. (With language input)
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