Shashi Tharoor in court for calling PM Modi \'a scorpion sitting on a Shivling\'

New Delhi: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court order summoning him in a defamation complaint over his remark that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader had compared prime minister Narendra Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".

In his plea, Tharoor has sought quashing of the April 27, 2019 order of a magisterial court summoning him on the criminal defamation complaint filed in 2018 by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Babbar, who said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's statement.

Tharoor had claimed in October 2018 that an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader had compared Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".

The former union minister has also sought quashing of the complaint, which describes his statement as an "intolerable abuse" and "absolute vilification" of the faith of millions of people.

The complaint was filed under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), relating to defamation.