The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to quash the defamation case against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for allegedly comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a "scorpion sitting on a Shivling" at the Bangalore Literature Festival in 2018. Additionally, the court has lifted the previous stay on the trial court proceedings in the case. Stating that the HC found "no grounds to quash the proceedings at this stage," the bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta instructed the parties to appear before the trial court on September 10. In 2020, the Delhi High Court had stayed proceedings against Tharoor.
The stay was issued by the court while hearing Tharoor's plea challenging a trial court order that summoned him in the defamation complaint filed by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar. In April 2019, a trial court summoned Tharoor in response to a criminal defamation complaint filed by Babbar in 2018. A Delhi court granted bail to Tharoor in June 2019.
Babbar claimed that Tharoor's October 2018 remarks, allegedly made at the Bangalore Literature Festival, compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling." Babbar argued that the statement was hurtful to his religious sentiments and defamatory towards BJP workers and supporters. Tharoor sought to quash the complaint, which was filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, related to defamation.