Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) IN THE COURT OF THE CHIEF JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM CMP No. __________ OF 2018 Dr. Shashi Tharoor … Complainant Versus Ravi Shankar Prasad … Accused Name and Address of the Complainant: Dr. Shashi Tharoor, aged 64 years, VERSUS Name and Address of the Accused: Ravi Shankar Prasad, aged 64 years COMPLAINT ON BEHALF OF THE COMPLAINANT UNDER SECTIONS 190 AND 200 OF THE CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, 1973 READ WITH SECTIONS 499 AND 500 OF THE INDIAN PENAL CODE AGIANST THE ACCUSED PERSON FOR MAKING DEFAMATORY REMARKS AGAINST THE COMPLAINANT MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH: 1. That the present Complaint is being preferred by the above named Complainant under Sections 190 and 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 read with Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (herein after referred to as “Code” or “IPC”) against the Accused Person for making defamatory remarks against the Complainant while making false and defamatory statements and posting video clips of the Press Conference of the accused in Twitter on 28/10/2018 around 5.30 A.M. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 2. Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the accused is the Union Minister for Law and Justice, Electronics and Information Technology. He is a Member of the Ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party and he represents the State of Bihar as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He is an eminent lawyer and he is also a designated Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE COMPLAINANT 3. That the Complainant herein is an Indian citizen and is an eminent personality in Indian Politics. The Complainant has earned substantial reputation over the years for his impeccable work as an author, Politician, and former international civil servant. The Complainant is currently a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. It is humbly stated that the Complainant has a large following in the constituency of Thiruvananthapuram and was first elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. He was re-elected by the people of Thiruvananthapuram in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In addition, the Complainant has previously served as the Minister of State for Human Resource Development and Minister of State for External Affairs in the Government of India. 4. That prior to entering the public life as a Politician, the Complainant served as a peacekeeper, refugee worker, and administrator at the highest level in the United Nations. He also served as Under-Secretary General in the United Nations during the leadership of Mr. Kofi Annan. The Complainant is also an award-winning Author of works of both fiction as well as non-fiction and has gathered immense reputation across the world through his writings. The Complainant has also held several positions of responsibilities and has been awarded with numerous awards and recognitions for his work. 5. That while serving at the United Nations, the Complainant held key responsibilities in peace-keeping after the Cold War and served as a Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The Complainant also held the position of Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. 6. That it must also be added here that the Complainant was even named the ‘Global Leader of Tomorrow’ in 1998 by the very prestigious World Economic Forum. 7. That the Complainant completed his Ph.D. [Doctor of Philosophy] in the year 1978 at the prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. While completing his Ph.D., he received the Robert B. Stewart Prize for Best Student and also helped in settling up the prestigious ‘Fletcher Forum of International Affairs’. The Complainant also served as the first Editor of the acclaimed ‘Fletcher Forum of International Affairs Journal’. 8. That in addition to the above, the Complainant was also awarded an Honorary D.Litt. [Doctor Litterarum] by the University of Puget Sound and a Doctorate Honoris Causa in History by the University of Bucharest. Therefore, the Complainant has gained enormous reputation over the years. 9. That after working with the United Nations for almost Thirty (30) years, the Complainant returned to India and contested the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. Due to immense reputation created by the Complainant through his illustrious career, social work and body of literary work, the Complainant got elected from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency and was thereafter re-elected in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. 10. That during his political career, the Complainant has held and managed key positions of responsibilities, and has served as Member-Convenor of the Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management and as a member of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, the Consultative Committee on Defense, the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Telecoms. The Complainant also served as the Chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs and as a member of the Standing Committee on Rules. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 11. That the achievements and laurels of the Complainant are not limited only to his political career and role in the United Nations. The Complainant is a celebrated author of Sixteen (16) books and a prominent contributor to some of the leading newspapers and journals of the world. He has authored hundreds of articles, op-eds, and book reviews in a wide range of publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, TIME, Newsweek, and The Times of India. The Complainant also served for two years as a Contributing Editor and occasional columnist for Newsweek International. He has regularly authored columns for the Indian Express (1991-93 and 1996-2001), The Hindu (2001-2008), The Times of India (2007-2009), The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (2010-2012) and Mail Today 2012), and regularly contributes on www.ndtv.com and The Quint, and publishes an internationally syndicated monthly column through Project Syndicate. The Complainant, due to his contributions across the world, is a highly recognizable and immensely respectable personality. 12. That the Complainant has been the recipient of several prestigious awards that include a Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, which is India's highest honour for overseas nationals. It is necessary to mention here that the Complainant has earned the respect and gratitude of several foreign nations as well, and the same is evident from the fact that in 2012 the King of Spain awarded him the Encomienda de la Real Order Espanola de Carlos III. The Complainant has also the ‘New Age Politician of the Year’ Award from NDTV, the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration, and the Priyadarshini Award for Excellence in Diplomacy. Therefore, a person, who has been a recipient of such prestigious and illustrious awards and honours across the world, has extremely high standards of reputation and a vast number of followers and the same is evident from the social media account of the Complainant on Twitter, where he has over 5.2 million followers. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 13. That the Complainant has held numerous positions of high responsibility and also served on the Board of Overseers of the acclaimed Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, and the Advisory Boards of the Indo-American Arts Council, the American India Foundation, the World Policy Journal, the Virtue Foundation and the Human Rights Organization Breakthrough. The Complainant has always been a prominent human rights advocate and based on his achievements and diligence, he was appointed as an International Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva for the period between 2008 – 2011. He was also a Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and the Patron of the Dubai Modern School, and serves on the Advisory Council of The Hague Institute for International Justice. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF THE ACCUSED PERSON 14. That the Accused is a Member of the ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing the State of Bihar and he is now discharging his duties as the Union Minister of Law and Justice and Electronics and Information Technology. He is an eminent lawyer and also a designated Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India. The gravity of the culpable act of the accused can be assessed from the fact that he possesses very deep knowledge on the law of the land and he knows what the term Murderer means and includes. By any stretch of imagination, the tag of murderer cannot be extended to the complainant for the reasons stated hereafter. Being a member of the legal profession, he must have weighed his words before speaking them against an eminent personality and he should not have stooped to the level of a stooge of the ruling political party. ORIGIN OF THE PRESENT DISPUTE 15. That the Complainant’s late wife, Mrs. Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor was a businesswoman and a philanthropist who passed away on 17.01.2014 in Hotel Leela Palace, New Delhi. Bar & Bench (www.barandbench.com) 16. That the investigation into the death of the Deceased is completed now and the Delhi Police has filed Final Report before the Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Courts. The complainant is made an accused in the said case and he is charge-sheeted under Sections 306 and 498 A of the Indian Penal Code. The Final Report does not say that the death of the deceased was a murder. As such the complainant, is facing the trial, and he is ready to prove his innocence before the Court of Law.