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Informist, Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024

 

--SC stays trial court proceedings against Tharoor on remark against PM 

--CONTEXT: HC refuses to quash defamation case against Cong's Tharoor 

--SC notice to BJP leader, others on Tharoor plea in defamation case 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today stayed defamation proceedings in a trial court against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his alleged statement comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion. On Aug 29, the Delhi High Court had refused to quash the defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Babbar, and had asked the parties to appear before the trial court today.

 

Justice Hrishikesh Roy said, "It is basically a figure of speech which uses words and phrases and applies to object and action with no relation to object and action. If the metaphor is to be understood in the manner we understand...Very often, metaphor is known to kill the truth. Or a picture which depicts what a thousand words cannot depict....I do not know why somebody has taken objection here." 

 

The apex court issued a notice to Babbar and Delhi police and placed the case for hearing after four weeks.

 

The Delhi High Court had observed that there were no grounds made for quashing the proceedings at that stage, and it would be expedient in the interest of justice that the proceedings be permitted to continue before the trial court. The high court had also rejected Tharoor's plea against the trial court summoning him in the case.

 

In 2018, Tharoor had claimed that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader compared Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a shivling". Tharoor had said that it was an "extraordinarily striking metaphor". He was given bail by the trial court in the case in 2019.

 

The complaint in the case against Tharoor was filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Babbar under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. Babbar said Tharoor's statement was not only "an abuse of the Hindu deity but also defamatory and an insult to BJP workers, supporters and leaders". Babbar said his religious sentiments were hurt by the statement, as it was not only "baseless but also misleading and defamatory".  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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