NEW DELHI – July 22, 2025 – The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the criminal defamation case filed against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his controversial “scorpion sitting on a Shivling” remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, heading the bench, expressed that the court had more pressing matters to attend to.
The bench, also comprising Justice B.R. Gavai, was hearing a plea filed by Tharoor seeking to quash the defamation case lodged against him by BJP leader Rajiv Babbar in 2018.
“What is there in this matter? There are more important matters,” the Chief Justice remarked to the complainant’s counsel, before adjourning the hearing to next week.
The criminal defamation case stems from an incident in October 2018 when Tharoor, while speaking at the Bengaluru Literature Festival, quoted an “unnamed RSS source” from his book “The Paradoxical Prime Minister.” He stated, “There is an extraordinary quote, one of my favorite metaphors, that an unnamed RSS source had told a journalist, that Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling. You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit it with a slipper.”
This remark drew immediate condemnation from BJP leaders, who alleged it was a derogatory and disrespectful comment against both the Prime Minister and a sacred Hindu deity, the Shivling. Rajiv Babbar, a BJP leader and lawyer, subsequently filed a criminal defamation complaint against Tharoor in a Delhi court, alleging that the statement had hurt his religious sentiments and tarnished the image of the Prime Minister.
Tharoor has maintained that he was merely quoting an existing metaphor and that his intention was not to insult any religious sentiments or person. He had sought the quashing of the defamation proceedings, arguing that the case was frivolous and politically motivated.
The Supreme Court’s decision to adjourn and the Chief Justice’s comments suggest a sentiment that the case, while procedurally active, may not hold significant legal weight or urgency in the higher echelons of the judiciary. The matter is now expected to be heard again next week.
