Delhi court dismisses defamation complaint against Shashi Tharoor

“The proposed accused can not be seen to impute that Dr Rajeev Chandrashekhar has bribed any voter. The proposed accused has not even mentioned that his opposition candidate had bribed the voters,” said Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal in his order while dismissing the complaint.

“The interview of 06.04.2024 was shown out of context in the morning news of 3.54 minutes and when the remaining interview of 23 minutes was seen, it can be seen that the proposed accused in his entire interview never made any imputation against the complainant,” he said.

Chandrashekhar had claimed that Tharoor’s statements had tarnished his image and had contributed to him losing the elections.

Last year, the court took cognizance of the allegations under IPC Sections 500 (defamation) and 171G (false statement to influence election) against Tharoor.

“This Court however would first like to note that not once did the proposed

accused in any of the three interviews/news bytes published contain reference to the BJP, NDA or Dr Rajeev Chandrashekhar. Even there is no reference in the 23 minutes interview…to BJP, NDA or Dr. Rajeev Chandrashekhar,” ACJM Dalal noted.