Delhi Court Issues Bailable Warrant Against Shashi Tharoor In Complaint Over 'Scorpion' Remark About PM Modi

A Delhi Court on Monday issued bailable warrant to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on a complaint about his remarks that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Naveen Kumar Kashyap was hearing a criminal complaint filed against Tharoor by Delhi BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who has alleged that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's statement.

When the matter was taken up on Monday, the CMM noted that the complainant and his counsel were not present. Therefore a cost of Rs.500  was imposed on the complainant, which is to be paid to the DLSA.

Also, the Court noticed the absence of Tharoor and his counsel. Taking a lenient view, the Court chose to issue bailable warrant in the sum of Rs 5000 and notice to his surety for November 27.

Tharoor had claimed in October last year that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivlinga". He had termed it as an extraordinarily striking metaphor.

The complaint says, "I am a devotee of Lord Shiva.... However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees, (and) made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country."

"The complainant's religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage the religious feelings of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious belief," it adds.

The complaint also describes Tharoor's statement as an "intolerable abuse" and "absolute vilification" of the faith of millions of people.

The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to defamation.

As Tharoor's comments at the Bangalore Literature Festival last year drew condemnation, the MP tweeted saying the remarks were not made by him and were in the public domain for six years.

In his speech at the festival, Tharoor had said "...There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist which I quote, in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr Modi.

"The man says Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivaling. You cannot remove him with a hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal either," he had said.