Steno Legal Dictation No. 400

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 10) stayed the proceedings in the criminal defamation complaint against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over a scorpion sitting on a Shivling remark made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. Advocate Mohammed Ali Khan, appearing for Tharoor, submitted that he merely quoted from an article published by The Caravan magazine in 2012, which contained an alleged remark by an unnamed RSS leader comparing Narendra Modi to a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. While speaking at the Bangalore Literature Festival in 2018, Tharoor quoted this expression and termed it an extraordinarily striking metaphor, the counsel said.