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Court was told today that when the article was published in 2012 with the alleged defamatory contents, nothing ill had resulted, and the Prime Minister had gathered a thumping victory in the upcoming elections
A division bench of the Supreme Court today has issued notice on the petition filed by Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor seeking to quash the defamation suit initiated against him by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Babbar.
Babbar filed a complaint following Tharoor's assertion that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling,” which Tharoor had described as an “extraordinarily striking metaphor”.
Further, the bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan has also stayed the proceedings before the trial court till the notice is made returnable after four weeks.
While hearing the case today, Justice Roy observed, "A metaphor is good enough to substitute a thousand words...I don't know why somebody has taken offence in that".
Tharoor's counsel further argued today that members of apolitical party cannot be said to be an aggrieved party.
The Congress leader has moved supreme court against the Delhi High Court's denial of his petition to quash the summons issued by the Trial Court. Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, rejected Tharoor’s petition and instructed the parties to appear before the Trial Court on September 10, 2024. The court determined that there were insufficient grounds at this stage to quash the proceedings, concluding that it would be in the interest of justice to allow the trial court to proceed with the case.
High Court had earlier granted Tharoor a final chance to present his submissions in a plea challenging the defamation proceedings brought against him by a BJP leader over his alleged “scorpion on Shivling” remark concerning PM.
On October 16, 2020, the High Court stayed the criminal proceedings against Tharoor and sought a response from complainant Rajiv Babbar regarding Tharoor’s plea challenging the summons issued by the Trial Court.
Tharoor had sought to overturn the Trial Court’s April 27, 2019, order summoning him as the accused in the criminal defamation case and requested the quashing of the November 2, 2018, complaint. He argued that the Trial Court’s order was legally erroneous and contrary to established criminal jurisprudence, contending that Babbar’s complaint was “completely false and frivolous”.
Case Title: SHASHI THAROOR vs. STATE OF N.C.T OF DELHI AND ANR
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