The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the defamation proceedings before a trial court against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over his “scorpion on Shivling” remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan issued notice to the Delhi government and the complainant BJP leader Rajiv Babbar in the case. The notice is returnable in four weeks.

Tharoor has moved the Apex Court against Delhi High Court order which refused to quash defamation proceedings against him on August 29.

The High Court in its order had noted that the comment made by Tharoor exemplifies that PM Modi is unacceptable with many in the RSS establishment and compares the expression of their frustration, as dealing with a leader with the characteristics of a scorpion possessing a venomous instinct.

The Court had further noted that Tharoor’s comments apparently not only defamed PM Modi, but the party represented by him, including RSS and the members of the party for having accepted the leadership.

The Congress leader had sought to set aside the trial court’s April 27, 2019 order summoning him as an accused in the criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Babbar as also the November 2, 2018 complaint.

During the brief hearing, advocate Muhammad Ali Khan, representing Tharoor, argued that Babbar, or any other party member, could not be brought within the ambit of an aggrieved person under the defamation law when the person against whom the statement was issued has not taken any action.

Khan added that Tharoor’s statement was protected under the immunity clause of the defamation law, which laid down that any comment made in good faith was not criminal. According to the lawyer, Tharoor’s statement was borrowed from an article published on Modi in 2012 when the latter was the chief minister of Gujarat.

The criminal complaint was filed against Tharoor in the trial court by Babbar, who claimed that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.

In October 2018, Tharoor had claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. The Congress leader had said it was an “extraordinarily striking metaphor”.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said that the Congress Party will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place, which is not the case right now. Gandhi made these remarks while talking to students at the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington DC, US.

In a post on X Gandhi said the caste census is now an unstoppable idea. “The critical question of whether 90% of our population is meaningfully represented in India’s institutional structure – economy, government, education – demands an answer,” he added.  

“At its core, this is an issue of fairness and justice. Anything less than a comprehensive caste census, along with an economic and institutional survey is unacceptable,” he said.

“We will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place. And India is not a fair place,” Gandhi told students at the university here in response to a question on reservation and how long it would continue.

During his interaction with the students and faculty at the University, Gandhi said, “When you look at the financial numbers, then tribals get 10 paise out of 100 rupees; Dalits get 5 rupees out of 100 rupees, and OBCs get a similar number. The fact of the matter is that they’re not getting participation.”

“The problem is that 90 per cent of India is not able to play. Go through the list of every single business leader in India. I’ve done it. Show me the tribal name. Show me the Dalit name. Show me the OBC name. Out of the top 200, I think there’s one OBC. They’re 50 per cent of India. But we’re not treating the symptom, he said.

When asked about the Uniform Civil Code, Gandhi said he would comment on it only after he knows what is BJP’s proposal.

“BJP is proposing a uniform civil code. We haven’t seen it. We have no idea what they’re talking about. For us to comment on it doesn’t make sense. When they pull it out, then we’ll have a look and we’ll comment on it,” he said.

Gandhi also said members of the INDIA coalition had differences but agreed on a lot of things.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh along with his MLAs and Ministers from the ruling BJP met Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya on Sunday for the second time in two consecutive days, seeking the control of the Unified Command and abrogation of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Kuki militant groups.

Before today’s meeting, Chief Minister Singh along with ruling MLAs met the Governor on Saturday evening too and briefed him about the fresh violence in the state that took six lives in Jiribam district.

According to reports, the Sunday meeting, which took place for hours, was a follow-up meeting between the CM and the Governor, which lasted over 30 minutes on Saturday night at Raj Bhawan, in Imphal.

Today’s meeting, according to the report, regarding the demand for adequate powers and responsibilities to the elected state government as per the Constitution by handing over Unified Command, which brings Central and State forces and local administration together to ensure the maintenance of law and order in the state.

The Unified Command was formed by the Centre in May 2023, with Kuldiep Singh, former Director General of CRPF, taking its Command in order to control the ethnic conflict in the state.

The list of demands includes another crucial request to abolish the Suspension of Operations agreement between the government and Kuki insurgent groups, allowing the security forces to take decisive action.

Earlier this year, an all-party meeting in Manipur urged both the Centre and the state government to annul the agreement, enabling security forces to launch comprehensive operations against the Kuki insurgents.

During the meeting, which was presided over by the Chief Minister, Opposition MLAs raised concerns about why the Centre and the state government had not disclosed the imposition of Article 355 of the Constitution in Manipur.

Article 355 obligates the Union to safeguard every state against external aggression and internal disturbance, and its invocation indicates that the state is perilously close to being placed under President’s rule.

The Chief Minister’s advocacy for the Unified Command Authority is perceived as an attempt to consolidate authority and streamline decision-making within the state’s security structure.