Delhi court junks defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor

ED: Updated story. An earlier version was published ar 5:12 p.m. on 4 February 2025.

A Delhi court on 4 February, Tuesday, dismissed a criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, accusing him of defamation.

Additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal refused to summon Tharoor, saying "not once did Tharoor in any of the three interviews/news bytes published" make a reference to the BJP, NDA or Chandrasekhar.

"The proposed accused (Tharoor) cannot be seen to impute that Chandrasekhar has bribed any voter. The proposed accused has not even mentioned that his opposition candidate had bribed the voters... Proposed accused in further interviews/news byte even clarifies that chasing such allegations would be futile as none would come forward to accept that they received any money or were promised as such. Proposed accused still in any of the interviews never named the complainant or his party to be bribing for votes," said the verdict.

Chandrasekhar alleged Tharoor defamed him by making false and derogatory statements on national television, claiming the BJP leader bribed voters in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The court, however, said the complainant failed to show any imputation made against him by the Congress leader in any of the three interviews.

The court said if each and every speech and expression was viewed as defamation, then freedom of speech and expression would be reduced to "nought".

"This court.. finds that there is no imputation which violates the requirement of law so as to initiate trial for criminal defamation against the proposed accused," the order said.

The judge went on, "There is no prima facie evidence that the proposed accused made any imputation against the complainant. The evidence produced shows that proposed accused never made or intended to make an imputation directly upon the complainant."

In a related development, the Delhi High Court on February 3 summoned Tharoor in a related civil defamation suit where Chandrasekhar sought Rs 10 crore in damages for loss of reputation. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav posted the matter for 28 April.

The criminal defamation complaint carries a maximum of a two-year jail term upon conviction.

The judge said the only imputation Tharoor made was when he reportedly said, "It's natural for the BJP to spend two to three times more than us."

But the court said the statement was made in context of the whole country.

"The fact that the news channel questioned the proposed accused shows that it was already the talk of the town and cities. The news channel kept seeking answers from the proposed, who maintained that even he had heard about the same and even clarified that there was no evidence," said the judge.

The two interviews when read in totality showed in all fairness that Tharoor has brushed the news aside as being without proof and it seemed he left it to the people of the constituency to make a fair judgement of such talk, noted the judgement.

Tharoor, said the court, imputing that the BJP was spending two to three times more than them was neither attributable to the complainant nor was it defamatory.

"It is noteworthy to see how interviews, words, etc., can be manipulated to mean differently with some outside context or interpretation attributed to such words... a bit and piece of any answer when presented to sensationalise with some random context by third person can present a complete different picture... A news channel can easily fall to scheme of sentimentalisation," the court said.

In today's period with diminishing attention span, the news presented for consumption requires sensationalising and eye catching headlines, it added.

Tharoor, said Chandrasekhar, made allegations against him with the intent to lower his reputation and to impact the result of the last general elections while knowing fully well that the statements were false.

The interviews were published by various news channels and on social media platforms at the behest of the proposed accused and resulted in the loss of reputation of the complainant in the society, which ultimately resulted in the complainant losing the Lok Sabha elections 2024, alleged his complaint.

The court on 21 September 2024 took cognisance of the complaint.

The interview was published by various news channels as well as on social media platforms at the Tharoor’s behest, the complaint said, and resulted in loss of reputation in society for Chandrasekhar, which ultimately resulted in the complainant losing the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, the latter claimed.

The court on 21 September 2024 took cognisance of the complaint.

In a related development, the Delhi High Court on Monday, 3 February, summoned Tharoor in a defamation suit where Chandrasekhar sought Rs 10 crore in damages for loss of reputation.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav posted the matter for 28 April.

"Let the plaint be registered as a suit. Issue summons to the defendant (Tharoor). List before the joint registrar on 28 April," said the court.