CHENNAI: The Madras High Court refused to grant anticipatory bail to a person who had shared a profane post on social media on Prophet Mohammed, as he may escape from the prosecution.

Justice M Dhanabal dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of R Murugesan, a resident of Rathinapuri, Coimbatore.

The suspect had claimed that he had shared the post without noticing the content, which was authored by someone else. But, after reading what it contained, he deleted it.

The government advocate also relied upon a judgment of the High Court in the S Ve Sekar’s case that whoever shared a post on social media must be cautious as they have to face the penal consequences if the post was found derogatory or obscene.

After the submission, the judge dismissed the bail petition.

On July 20 this year, the Saibaba Colony police booked a case against Dhanabal under the Information Technology Act of 2000 for sharing a profane post on Prophet Mohammed on his social media handle. It’s noteworthy that the principal district court in Coimbatore had dismissed Dhanabal’s earlier bail petition after perusing the content of the post.