HC suspends S Ve Shekher’s one-month prison sentence

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court suspended the sentence imposed on actor-turned-politician and former legislative member S Ve Shekher in a case for sharing a sexist post against women journalists on social media.

Shekher had moved the HC challenging the special court’s judgment sentencing him to 1 month in prison.

The case was listed before Justice N Anand Venkatesh.

After the perusal of the criminal revision petition, the judge suspended the sentence and also directed the police to file a counter to the criminal revision petition and posted the matter after four weeks.

On February 19, the special court for MP/MLAs-related cases in Chennai had observed that the prosecution had established the offense against Shekher beyond reasonable doubt. So, the court found the accused guilty under 504 and 509 of the IPC and Section 4 of the TN Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002. The court had sentenced Shekher to one-month imprisonment with Rs 15,000 fine.

In 2018, the TN Journalist Protection and Welfare Association filed a complaint against him, alleging that he shared a post containing sexist and abusive narratives against women journalists in general.

However, Shekher explained that he had shared the post without knowing the content, but after realising it, he had removed the post and tendered an unconditional apology.