The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, put an interim stay on proceedings in the criminal defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which stemmed from his controversial “scorpion sitting on a Shivling” remark about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. A bench comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan was hearing Tharoor’s appeal against an August 29 order from the Delhi High Court, which had rejected his plea to quash the defamation case.
Advocate Mohammed Ali Khan, representing Tharoor, argued that the defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar failed to include either the magazine that published the original quote or the person who made the initial statement as accused in the case. The apex court also issued a notice to Babbar and asked him to file his response within four weeks, following Tharoor’s challenge to the criminal defamation proceedings.
