Supreme Court directs BJP politician S Ve Shekher to seek bail from Magistrate

The Supreme Court today directed BJP politician S Ve Shekher to appear before the Magistrate Court and seek regular bail in a case relating to publication of derogatory posts on Facebook against women journalists..This came after the plea for anticipatory bail by Shekher was rendered infructuous..Shekher, represented by Balaji Srinivasan and Vaishnavi Subrahmanyam, was seeking protection from arrest in a case where he is charged for posting derogatory and insulting statements against women journalists on social media..The Supreme Court had earlier granted interim relief in the way of protection from arrest to Shekher until today. However, the Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Mohan Shantanagoudar disposed of the plea today..The Court was informed that an eighteen-page chargesheet has been filed by the Tamil Nadu Police against Shekher in Chennai’s Egmore Metropolitan Magistrate Court..In light of the fact that the investigation now stands concluded and the Tamil Nadu Police has filed a chargesheet against Shekhar, the matter of anticipatory bail was rendered infructuous. The Court has directed Shekher to appear before the Magistrate Court and seek regular bail..On May 22, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Navin Sinha, had granted protection to Shekher till June 1..Shekher had initially approached the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail, after facing the prospect of being arrested for publishing derogatory posts against women journalists on social media..A complaint against Shekher’s post was registered with the police by the Tamil Nadu Journalist and Protection Association. Among other derogatory comments against women, the Facebook post is said to have stated,.“Recently this disgusting fact has come out through complaints that women cannot become reporters or anchors unless they sleep with top bosses. and with these faces they come out to ask questions to the Governors.”.In his defence, Shekher had argued that he had posted the forwarded message unintentionally and without knowledge of the offensive content. Shekher claimed that he removed the message as soon as his attention was drawn to the condemnable nature of its content, and subsequently rendered an apology..However, the High Court had denied his application for anticipatory bail, observing that forwarding a message on social media is tantamount to endorsing it..Note: This post was last updated at 4.35 pm on June 1, 2018.