Shashi Tharoor’s scorpion jibe at PM Modi hurt Hindus, defamed Modi, BJP: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court held on Thursday that Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s remarks comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a scorpion on Shivling amounts to defaming Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)..Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta ruled that the “imputations against a sitting Prime Minister are despicable and deplorable” and have a bearing on the image of the party, its members and its functionaries.The Court stressed that the comment by the Congress leader “obliquely hurt Hindu sentiments” as well.“The comments apparently not only defame Shri Narendra Modi but the party represented by him i.e. BJP, including RSS and the members of the party for having accepted the leadership. It cannot be ignored that the imputation against the legislative Head of a political party and the sitting Prime Minister of India has an important bearing on the image of the party, functionaries and the members of the party concerned and does not augur well to the system as it also impacts the electoral process,” the Bench observed..It said that the objection raised by Tharoor that BJP leader Rajiv Babbar (who sued Tharoor for criminal defamation) has no reason to feel hurt by the remark because it was not targeted towards the members of the BJP and was made in good faith, is a matter to be determined during the trial..Justice Mendiratta arrived at these findings while dismissing a plea filed by Tharoor seeking quashing of Babbar’s defamation case.The Court considered the arguments and came to a finding that “if a collection of persons or an association or company is defamed, any of the members representing Section 500 IPC [criminal defamation] is maintainable”.“It may further be observed that if a well defined class is defamed, each and every member of that class can maintain a complaint.”It, therefore, rejected Tharoor’s plea. .Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal with advocates Muhammad Ali Khan, Abhik Chimni, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, Uday Bhatia, Arjun Sharma and Kamran Khan represented Shashi Tharoor. Rajiv Babbar was represented by Senior Advocate Pinky Anand as well as advocates Piyush Beriwal, Neeraj, Saudamini Sharma, Samrath Pasricha and Ojasvi. .[Read Judgment]