Tharoor sends legal notice to Law minister for calling him 'murder accused'

New Delhi: Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday sent a legal notice to Union Minister for Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad for allegedly calling him murder accused.

The notice was sent by Tharoor's lawyer over the video posted by the Union Minister on his official Twitter handle on October 28 where the latter said, "Shashi Tharoor who is charge-sheeted in a murder case has attempted to disrespect Lord Shiva."

Prasad had made the statement during a press conference after Tharoor quoted an unnamed RSS source as saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was like a "scorpion sitting on a Shiva Linga who cannot be removed by hand or hit with a chappal (slipper) either".

Demanding "unconditional and written apology from Prasad within 48 hours" of the receipt of the notice, Tharoor also asked for the video to be deleted. He further said that the statements made in the video was "false, untrue, malicious, and highly defamatory".

"Dr Shashi Tharoor is neither charge-sheeted for the offence nor he is an accused in a case of murder. Being the person who heads the Ministry of Law and Justice, the highest establishment of the Union Government responsible for the Law and Justice System of the country, yourself must be truthful, honest, correct and highly responsible for the public statements you make as the people view or read your statements will tend to relate such statements to the Office you hold and you are well aware of that fact," the notice read.

The notice further clarified Tharoor's comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that former was referring to an old news article published in the magazine 'Caravan' in 2012.

"The article was authored by journalist Vinod Jose with the title, 'The Emperor Uncrowned' and it ended by quoting an unnamed source in the RSS who expressed its frustration with their inability to curb Modi," Tharoor said in the notice.

The notice further stated that Tharoor's statement did not disrespect the deity in any manner. "If you remove a Scorpion with your hand, you will get stung very badly. But you hit a Shiv Linga with a chappal (slippers), you undermine all the sacred tenets of the faith, you all know on which the Scorpion is sitting," it read.