Refusing interim protection from arrest to actor-turned-politician and BJP leader S.Ve. Shekher, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered him to appear before a Magistrate's court and seek regular bail in a case involving forwarding of a Facebook post that was derogatory to women journalists.
Disposing off Shekher's plea, the court noted: "... counsel appearing for the State submits that the chargesheet has been filed. The petitioner will now appear before the trial court and seek regular bail."
On May 22, the top court had asked the Tamil Nadu Police not to take coercive action against Shekher till June 1 after he sought anticipatory bail.
The social media post made insinuations against the media and women journalists after 78-year-old Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit patted a woman journalist on her cheek, apparently seeking to avoid answering a question she had asked.
Shekher has already apologised and deleted the Facebook post in April.
He claimed that the post was penned by one of his friends, S. Thirumalai, questioning the chastity of women journalists and shared it on Shekher's Facebook page.
The Madras High Court earlier dismissed Shekher's initial plea for anticipatory bail and directed police to take action on the complaint as they would do on a normal complaint against any person.
Shekher had challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
The Cyber Crime Cell had booked Shekher under the Indian Penal Code and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
The High Court had pulled up police for its inaction on the complaint against Shekher and questioned why police was acting in a biased manner on the complaint against him.
--IANS
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)