Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj granted permission to Tharoor to go to the USA from May 5-20
New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday allowed Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, an accused in a case related to wife Sunanda Pushkar's death, to travel abroad. Special Judge Arun Bhardwaj granted permission to Tharoor to go to the USA from May 5-20.
In his application, Tharoor had claimed that he has to attend certain press conferences there.
While granting him bail in the case, the court had directed not to leave the country without its prior permission.
The former Union minister has been charged under Sections 498-A (husband or his relative subjecting a woman to cruelty) and 306 of the IPC, but has not been arrested in the case.
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a luxury hotel in the city on the night of January 17, 2014. The couple was staying in the hotel as the official bungalow of Tharoor was being renovated at that time.
A court on Saturday summoned Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on June 7 on a complaint over his remarks that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal was hearing a criminal defamation complaint filed against Tharoor by Delhi BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who has said his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader's statement.
Tharoor had claimed in October last year that an unnamed RSS leader had compared PM Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivlinga". He had termed it as an extraordinarily striking metaphor.
The complaint says, "I am a devotee of Lord Shiva.... However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva devotees, (and) made the statement which hurt the sentiments of all Lord Shiva devotees, both in India and outside the country."
"The complainant's religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage the religious feelings of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their religious belief," it adds.
The complaint also describes Tharoor's 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.
As Tharoor's comments at the Bangalore Literature Festival last year drew condemnation, the MP tweeted saying the remarks were not made by him and were in the public domain for six years. In his speech at the festival, Tharoor had said, "There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to a journalist which I quote, in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Mr Modi. The man says Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivaling. You cannot remove him with a hand and you cannot hit it with a chappal either."
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