Supreme Court raps Tamil actor-turned-politician S V Shekhar for posts against journalist on social media

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday pulled up Tamil actor-turned-politician S V Shekher over his reported derogatory posts on social media against a journalist and said he "carried out a nasty campaign against a woman".

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh which granted him exemption from surrender till further hearing observed he never apologised for his conduct to the journalist.

"First of all, we are surprised you are pursuing this. It was a nasty campaign you carried out against a woman. You attacked her dignity directly, and in such a brazen and abrupt manner," the bench said.

Justice Kant told advocate Balaji Srinivasan, appearing for the actor, the actor might also be harassing other women, but was confronted by a journalist association this time.

Srinivasan said the actor forwarded the message without reading it and deleted it within an hour and apologised.

Justice Kant, however, referred to the high court observing in its order that he had never tendered an apology and issued a statement only as a formality.

The top court passed the order after Shekher's counsel sought four weeks’ time to approach the complainant and persuade her to accept his unconditional apology.

On January 2, the Madras High Court dismissed Shekher's appeal against a one-month imprisonment imposed on him by a special court for posting a derogatory message against the journalist on social media.

The high court confirmed the special court's punishment.

It, however, suspended the sentence for 90 days to enable Shekher to approach the Supreme Court in appeal.

The matter stems from a post shared by the actor-turned-politician on social media in 2018 which allegedly contained derogatory remarks against the woman journalist.

Based on a complaint filed by a journalist association, the police registered an FIR against him under various sections of the IPC and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.

On February 19, last year, the special court held that the prosecution proved the offence against the accused and sentenced him to one month's imprisonment and imposed a fine.