The Supreme Court has stayed proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor for his 2018 comment comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a ‘scorpion sitting on a Shivling’. The court issued notice on Tharoor’s petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s ruling that his remark was defamatory. The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Rajeev Babbar who claimed Tharoor’s statement hurt his religious sentiments.