Tharoor said he was quoting BJP leader Gordhan Zadaphia, and that statement had been in the public domain for the past several years.
Published Aug 29, 2024 | 3:55 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 29, 2024 | 6:17 PM
Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor. (Twitter)
The Delhi Court on Thursday, 29 August, refused to quash a defamation case against Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor who allegedly compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion on a Shivling. Tharoor claimed he was quoting a BJP leader.
The plea filed by Tharoor to quash the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court was dismissed by Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta.
The high court also vacated its interim order staying the proceeding pending at the trial court.
“No grounds are made for quashing the proceedings at this stage,” the court said, reported Bar and Bench.
The court also ordered the parties to appear before the trial court on 10 September.
The case stems from a remark that Tharoor made during the Bangalore Literature Festival in 2018. “Mr. Modi is a scorpion sitting on a Shivling,” Tharoor had allegedly said.
Following that BJP leader Rajiv Babbar filed a defamation suit against the Congress leader.
However, Tharoor said he was quoting BJP leader Gordhan Zadaphia, and that statement had been in the public domain for the past several years.
His lawyers argued that Tharoor did not make any false opinions or comments but only quoted a direct statement from a journalistic work.
It was also argued that Babbar was not an aggrieved person, in terms of Section 499 of the Indian Pena Code (IPC), and that the true origin and purport of the speech were concealed by him.
The court was told that the complaint by Babbar was completely false and frivolous and the issuance of summons by the trial court was erroneous and contrary to the principles of criminal jurisprudence.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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