Shashi Tharoor told to appear in court over ‘scorpion’ remark against PM Modi

india

Updated: Apr 27, 2019 18:20 IST

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday received summons from a Delhi court for his “scorpion” remark against PM Narendra Modi.  The order comes on a plea by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who had filed a complaint against Tharoor alleging that the comments hurt his religious sentiments. 

Tharoor has been asked to appear before the court June 7. 

Clarifying his comments, Shashi Tharoor asked if the BJP would like to file a complaint against Gordhan Zadaphia, who the Congress leader claims made the remark for which he is being prosecuted for repeating. 

“Wonder if BJP would like to ask a judge to summon their own UP-in-charge, Gordhan Zadaphia, for the remark I am now being prosecuted for quoting?  Absurd to be pursued by the BJP for quoting words that have been in the public domain for over 7yrs, without any previous legal action,” tweeted Tharoor soon after the news of summons. 

Last year, speaking at the Bangalore Literature Festival, Tharoor claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. 

“The complainant’s religious sentiments were hurt and accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage religious feeling of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious believes,” the complaint read. 

The complaint was filed under section 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code relating to defamation.