Shashi Tharoor files criminal defamation case against Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor has filed a criminal defamation case before a Kerala court against Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, citing absolutely false and baseless defamatory statements made by the latter, who referred to Tharoor as a charge-sheeted accused in a murder case..The statement in question was made as part of a press conference held by Prasad in October, prompted by a speech made by Tharoor during the Bengaluru Literature Festival earlier this year. While introducing his book, ‘The Paradoxical Prime Minister: Narendra Modi and his India’, Tharoor had said,.“There’s an extraordinary striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to the journalist Mr. Vinod K Jose of ‘The Caravan’. The RSS source said [Narendra] 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 either.”.During his press conference, Prasad criticised Tharoor for having made the statement, while referring to Tharoor as being an accused in a murder case. These statements, which have now attracted the defamation case, include,.“Shashi Tharoor who is accused in a murder case has attempted to disrespect Lord Shiva. I seek a reply from Rahul Gandhi who claims himself to be a Bhakt of Lord Shiva on this horrific denunciation of Hindu gods by a Congress MP….…Mr. Shashi Tharoor is charge-sheeted in a serious allegation of murder. I don’t want to give him more respect and prestige by responding to his baseless allegations. But the larger issue is while Rahul Gandhi claims himself to be a “Shiv Bhakht”, one of his small leaders has almost abused the sanctity of the “Shiv Linga” and Lord Mahadev by referring to the Chaapal attack through unnamed sources.“.Prasad also tweeted a video clip of the press conference, containing these statements, on the morning of October 28. In response, Tharoor’s petition states that a legal notice was sent to Prasad on October 30, calling for a written and unconditional apology, in addition to taking down the tweet..In his reply made on November 3, Prasad is said to have denied that his statements were defamatory, asserting that the public has a right to know about the same. He also countered that it was Tharoor who had made objectionable statements against the Prime Minister..Consequently, Tharoor has now initiated criminal defamation proceedings, pointing out that he is not accused of murder in any case. Rather, the offence alleged against him by the prosecution in the case concerning the demise of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar, falls under abetment to suicide and domestic violence. As noted in Tharoor’s complaint,.“By any stretch of imagination, the tag of murderer cannot be extended to the complainant for the reasons stated hereafter. Being a member of the legal profession, he must have weighed his words before speaking them against an eminent personality and he should not have stooped to the level of a stooge of the ruling political party….… Both as a member of the general public who is aware of the current affairs of the country and also as a person who holds the very esteemed post of the Union Law Minister for India, the accused must be well aware that the complainant is not charge-sheeted by Police and he is not an accused in a case of murder….… It is abundantly clear that the accused has misused the content the complainant’s speech and distorted it and deliberately and with a mala fide intention picked it out of context and misapplied it in his condemnable act to tarnish the reputation and fame of the complainant..”.Tharoor goes on to argue that the statement was made to gain political mileage, as a result of which his reputation has been put in jeopardy..“…At any rate the intention and purpose behind the accused’s false and baseless imputations against the complainant is clearly to harm, tarnish and malign his reputation and to destroy his impeccable image that the complainant enjoys among the public, especially in view of the oncoming Lok Sabha elections. .As a result of the accused’ intentional wrong and dishonest imputations, many people have already started to think that the ongoing criminal prosecution against the complainant is really for the offence of murder and that the Police has in fact charge sheeted the complainant for the offence of murder…These developments are highly destructive to the public image, good reputation and fame enjoyed by the complainant within his constituency and beyond.”.The complaint was filed on December 7 through advocate Suraj Krishna BS before the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Thiruvananthapuram..Read the complaint: