High court intervenes as former judge deletes Facebook post on senior woman journalist

Kochi: A former judge, who was earlier booked for making sexually coloured remarks against a senior woman television journalist through social media, has deleted his objectionable post after the intervention of the Kerala High Court.

Former sub-judge S Sudeep made the objectionable remarks in a Facebook post while criticising her weekly TV show, a satirical news analysis programme. He was booked by the police in July 2023.

The High Court had earlier ordered the removal of the offending Facebook post but the social media giant had told the court that as per the court order, the post was restricted from being viewed in the country. On December 20, Sudeep submitted before the court that he was unable to access the post to delete it permanently due to the restrictions imposed by the social media platform.

Upon the court's direction, Meta Platforms Inc, the parent company of Facebook, granted Sudeep access to the post to delete it. The court also said that the removal of the post shall not in any manner prejudice any of his contentions in the criminal prosecution.

The court has now posted the matter for further hearing on January 5. The former judge's Malayalam FB post had triggered widespread protest on social media platforms as several netizens criticised his remarks. Cantonment police in Thiruvananthapuram had registered a case under IPC Section 354 A (iv) (making sexually coloured remarks) and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.