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.
He refused to quash the criminal cases, without trial, on the basis of the petitioner’s claim that the message was authored by someone else and that he had shared it on his Facebook account inadvertently without properly reading it. The judge also said that the unconditional apology tendered by the petitioner could not be a reason to not face trial.
“We live in an era where social media has virtually taken over the lives of every individual in the world. We are now suffering from a virtual information diarrhoea where everyone is bombarded with messages. That is the reason as to why a person must exercise social responsibility while creating or forwarding a message,” the judge wrote.
He went on to write: “A message that is sent or forwarded in the social media is like an arrow, which has already been shot from the bow. Till that message remains with the sender, it is within his control. Once it is sent, it is like the arrow, which has already been shot and the sender of the message must take the ownership for the consequences.”
Holding that the message shared by the petitioner did cause insult to journalists in general and women journalists in particular, the judge said, it would be difficult to wriggle out of the damage by tendering an apology. The judge ordered a joint trial of all the cases before the special court for legislators in Chennai and ordered completion of trial within six months.
Another case
Justice Venkatesh, however, allowed another petition filed by the former MLA and quashed a case registered against him under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 by the Central Crime Branch in Chennai in 2020 for having released a YouTube video claiming that the colours in the Indian flag represent different religions.
Holding that the statement made by him does not constitute an offence under Section 2 of the Act, the judge said: “Similarly, the statement made by the petitioner also does not show any disrespect or contempt towards the national flag and hence, mens rea is also absent. In view of the same, the offence under Section 2 of the Act is not made out.”
