Delhi court reserves order on summoning Tharoor in defamation complaint

A court here reserved its order on Monday on summoning Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his alleged "scorpion" remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal said the court would pass the order on April 27 on whether to summon the Congress MP as the accused in the plea.

The court 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.

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

"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.