The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor seeking to quash a criminal defamation case filed against him over a statement comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion.
Noting that no ground was made in the petition to quash the proceedings at this stage, the single-judge Bench of Justice Anup Kumar Mendiratta vacated its interim order staying the proceedings and ordered the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10.
Earlier, the trial court had issued summons to Tharoor after BJP leader Rajiv Babbar filed a defamation case against the Lok Sabha MP.
The Congress leader reportedly made the statement in November 2018 at the Bangalore Literature Festival. He allegedly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling.
The lawyers representing Tharoor said that he was merely quoting Gordhan Zadaphia from a piece of journalistic work. The statement made by Zadaphia has been in the public domain for the last several years.
They argued that the complainant was not an aggrieved person in terms of Section 499 IPC and that the true origin & purport of the speech was cleverly concealed by him.
The complaint made by Babbar was completely false & frivolous. The issuance of summons by the trial court was erroneous and contrary to the principles of criminal jurisprudence, added the lawyers.
Tharoor was represented by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, along with Advocates Muhammad Ali Khan, Abhik Chimni, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, Uday Bhatia, Arjun Sharma and Kamran Khan.
Senior Advocate Pinky Anand, along with Advocates Piyush Beriwal, Neeraj, Saudamini Sharma, Samrath Pasricha and Ojasvi, appeared for Rajiv Babbar.