The Supreme Court on Friday extended the stay on trial court proceedings against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a defamation case filed for his alleged "scorpion on Shivling" remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked the complainant’s lawyer "why be so touchy".
The order was passed by a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh after adjourning the matter on the request of Tharoor's lawyer.The Apex Court urged Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Babbar to close the defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over the latter's statement comparing Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to a scorpion.The Bench asked why people in public life should be touchy about such statements.
"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 Bench remarked.The Bench was hearing a plea by the senior Congress leader against a Delhi High Court order refusing to quash the case against him.The Court eventually adjourned the matter on a request by the counsel for the respondents.
A trial court had earlier issued the summons to Tharoor after Babbar filed the defamation case against the Congress leader.
Tharoor had allegedly made the statement, Mr. Modi is a scorpion sitting on a Shivling, in November 2018 at the Bangalore Literature Festival.Tharoor maintained that it was not his original statement and that he was merely quoting another person, Gordhan Zadaphia, and that statement has been in public domain for the last several years. On August 9, Delhi High Court refused to quash the case.
The High Court held Tharoor’s remarks amounted to defaming Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).It ruled that the “imputations against a sitting Prime Minister are despicable and deplorable” and have a bearing on the image of the party, its members and its functionaries.Tharoor then moved the Supreme Court through advocate Abishek Jebaraj.
The Supreme Court in September 2024 stayed the trial court proceedings against Tharoor after noting that the remark was not Tharoor's original statement but was first made by another person in an article published in 2012 in Caravan magazine.The Court also said that it was unclear as to why someone had taken objection to Tharoor's remark since it seemed more like a metaphor and seemed to allude to the invincibility of PM Modi.Therefore, the Court proceeded to issue notice to the complainant BJP leader as well as the State of Delhi and stayed the case.
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