The Indian National Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor has on 12 March moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the trial court’s order which issued him a summons in a defamation complaint over his remark that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘a scorpion sitting on a Shivling’.
In his plea, Shashi has sought the court to quash the 27 April 2019, an order of a magisterial court, which summoned him on the criminal defamation complaint filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Babbar, who said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement. The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which has further described Shashi’s statements as an “intolerable abuse” and “absolute vilification” for the faith of millions of people.
As per reports, a Delhi Court has in the last month imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Shashi for failure to appear during the case hearing even after a direction to this effect was given earlier.
