The Madras High Court on Friday refused to quash multiple criminal cases filed against actor and former MLA S.Ve. Shekher before the courts at Chennai, Tirunelveli and Karur districts in 2018 for having shared a Facebook post of another individual containing abusive, derogatory and vulgar remarks against women journalists.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh dismissed the quash petitions filed by him and said, though the petitioner was an educated person and a well-known figure in the State with a large fan following, a careful reading of the Facebook post shared by him on April 19, 2018 showcased the women journalists in very bad light.
“This court is very hesitant to even translate the message that was forwarded [shared] by the petitioner since, to say the least, it is despicable. The contents are highly derogatory against the Press as a whole in Tamil Nadu,” the judge said and pointed out that there was no dispute with respect to the message having been shared through his Facebook account.
