The DMK questioned the State government in the Assembly on Wednesday as to why former MLA and actor S.Ve. Shekher, against whom a case had been registered for allegedly denigrating women, had not been arrested by the police yet. Speaker P. Dhanapal, however, refused to allow the members to discuss the issue, claiming it was pending before a court. Objecting to this, DMK members, led by their working president M.K. Stalin, walked out of the House.
Mr. Stalin raised the issue during Zero Hour and said the former MLA was facing charges for making defamatory remarks against women journalists. When the Speaker said a case relating to this was coming up for hearing before the court on June 20, Mr. Stalin clarified that he was not going into the matter before the court but only questioning why the police had not arrested him.
The Speaker insisted that the matter could have been taken up for debate, had it been brought up earlier, but in view of the court’s direction to Mr. Shekher to appear before it in connection with the case, the issue could not be discussed in the House.
The Speaker also expunged certain remarks made by Mr. Stalin. Following this, the DMK members protested and walked out. The Speaker also refused to allow Congress MLA J.G. Prince (Colachel) to speak on the issue. Some top government officials, who are usually present in the officers’ gallery, were missing when the DMK raised this issue in the House.
‘Roaming free’
Later, in a statement issued in Chennai, Mr. Stalin said, “The courts have said that he should be arrested. But, he is yet to be arrested. What is the reason? He is not even absconding. Mr. Shekher, who is a relative of Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, has been allowed to roam free with police protection. He attended a function recently in which a Central Minister also participated. Two days ago, he even voted in the South Indian Cinema and Television Producers’ Council elections held in Anna Nagar.”