New Delhi: A Delhi court granted bail to Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today on a complaint over his alleged ‘scorpion’ remarks referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted relief to Tharoor on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 after he appeared before the court and moved the bail application.
The court was hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed against Tharoor by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who had said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.
In October 2018, Tharoor had triggered a controversy at the Bengaluru Literature Festival by recalling an old news article where an “unnamed RSS source” had compared PM Modi to a scorpion sitting on a Shiva Lingam.
“There’s an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist. The RSS source said Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shiv Linga. You cannot remove him with your hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal (slipper) either,” Tharoor had said at the festival.
The matter will now be heard 25 July to record the statement of Rajeev Babbar.