A court in New Delhi on Saturday summoned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on June 7 on a complaint over his remarks that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal was hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed against Tharoor by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who has said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.
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 said, “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.
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