New Delhi, Aug 1 (UNI) The Supreme Court today asked BJP leader Rajiv Babbar to consider closing the defamation case filed against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over his 2018 remark comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a “scorpion sitting on a Shivling.”
A Bench comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh questioned the sensitivity surrounding such statements and observed, “Let us close all these things.
Why to get so touchy about all this? This way, administrators and judges come in the same group and have thick skin.”
The court was hearing Tharoor’s appeal challenging a Delhi High Court order dated August 9, 2023, which had refused to quash the defamation case.
The High Court had ruled that Tharoor’s statement amounted to defamation of the Prime Minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling the remark “despicable and deplorable.”
Tharoor’s counsel argued that the Congress leader was merely quoting an old statement originally made by Gordhan Zadaphia, a former Gujarat minister, which had been in the public domain since its publication in a 2012 article in Caravan magazine.
Tharoor had cited the statement at the Bangalore Literature Festival in November 2018.
A trial court had earlier issued a summons to Tharoor based on Babbar’s complaint. Tharoor then approached the Supreme Court through Advocate Abishek Jebaraj.
In September 2024, the apex court stayed the trial court proceedings, observing that the remark was not originally Tharoor’s and appeared to be metaphorical in nature.
The Court remarked that it was unclear why the statement had triggered legal action, suggesting it seemed to allude to PM Modi’s political invincibility rather than being outright defamatory.
The bench today adjourned the hearing at the request of the counsel for respondents, while hinting at bringing the matter to a close.
