'Why Get So Touchy?' SC Urges BJP Leader To Close Defamation Case Against Shashi Tharoor
BJP's Rajiv Babbar had sued Tharoor after he allegedly compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion
The Supreme Court on Friday urged a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader to close a defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a plea by Tharoor against a Delhi High Court's order refusing to quash the case against him.
BJP's Rajiv Babbar had sued Tharoor after he allegedly compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion.
'Let us close all these things. Why to get so touchy about all this? This way, administrators and judges come in the same group and have thick skin," the bench remarked, as reported by Bar & Bench.
After Babbar's defamation case, Tharoor got a summon from a trial court in Delhi.
In 2018, the senior Congress leader allegedly said that 'PM Modi is a scorpion sitting on a Shivling" during the Bangalore Literature Festival.
However, Tharoor said it was not his original statement and that he was merely quoting another person, Gordhan Zadaphia, and that statement has been in public domain for the last several years.
While refusing to quash the case, the Delhi High Court said that the 'imputations against a sitting Prime Minister are despicable and deplorable." The High Court also noted that Tharoor's remarks amounted to defaming PM Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Tharoor then approached the Supreme Court for relief.
Last year, the Supreme Court stayed the trial court proceedings against Tharoor and said it was unclear as to why someone had taken objection to Tharoor's remark since it seemed more like a metaphor and seemed to allude to the invincibility of PM Modi, Bar & Bench reported.
The apex court noted that Tharoor's remark was not his original statement and it was said by someone in an online article. It also observed that it seemed more like a metaphor and seemed to allude to PM Modi's invincibility.
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