Supreme Court Stays Defamation Proceedings Against Shashi Tharoor

The Supreme Court has halted further trial court proceedings in a defamation case against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his 2018 'scorpion on Shivling' comment about PM Modi. The court has issued notices to Delhi police and BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, setting a hearing in four weeks.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended further proceedings in a defamation case against senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, stemming from his contentious 'scorpion on Shivling' remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan issued notices to the Delhi police and BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who filed the complaint, and scheduled a hearing for four weeks later.

'Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Further proceedings in pursuance to the impugned judgment are stayed until further orders,' the bench stated. Tharoor's counsel argued that the statement was initially published in a 2012 Caravan magazine article, and Tharoor reiterated it in 2018.

Shashi Tharoor approached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court refused to dismiss the defamation case on August 29. The High Court had earlier stayed the criminal proceedings in October 2020 but vacated the order, instructing Tharoor to appear before the trial court on September 10. The trial court summoned Tharoor based on BJP leader Babbar's defamation complaint, which alleged that Tharoor made the statement at the Bangalore Literature Festival in November 2018, comparing Modi to a 'scorpion sitting on a Shivling.'