Special Court sentences actor-politician S Ve Shekher for defaming women journalists

CHENNAI: A special court in Chennai sentenced the actor turned politician and former legislative member S Ve Shekher to one month of imprisonment for sharing a sexist post against women journalists on social media.

A special court for MP/MLAs-related cases in Chennai observed that the prosecution has established the offense against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Hence, the court found the accused guilty under 504 and 509, of IPC and section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002.

The court sentenced Shekher to one month of imprisonment with Rs.15,000 as a fine. After depositing the fine amount, Shekher filed a fresh petition seeking to suspend the sentence as he was approaching the Madras High Court against the order.

Perusing the petition, the court suspended the sentence for 30 days allowing him to appear before Madras High Court.

In 2018, the Tamil Nadu Journalist Protection and Welfare Association lodged a complaint against Shekher, alleging that he shared a post containing sexist and abusive narratives against women journalists in general.

However, Shekher explained that he shared the post without knowing the content of the post, after realizing the content of the post, it was removed and tendered an unconditional apology.

Later, Shekher moved the Madras High Court seeking to quash the case lodged against him.

In July, last year, the Madras High Court dismissed Shekher's quash petition and observed that merely tendering an unconditional apology does not make right, the damage caused by the person's action.