Apology will not be enough to avoid criminal proceedings for social media posts: Supreme Court

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

social media and an apology will not be enough to waive criminal proceedings, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled. Dismissing the petition against actor and former Tamil Nadu MLA S Ve Shekher for sharing a post which made indecent remarks against women journalists, the court said that one has to be very careful while using social media. The 72-year-old actor had shared a post on Facebook which he later deleted after realising the mistake.

He had also tendered an unconditional apology. According to his lawyer, the actor, who has a wide following on social media, shared someone else's post inadvertently without reading it as his vision was blurred at that time. «I come from a respected family and my family respects women journalists.

I had taken medicine in my eyes at that time (sic) due to which I couldn't read contents of the post which I shared,» his lawyer said. The bench of Justices B R Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra, however, expressed surprise at how the actor had shared the post so casually without reading the contents and refused to interfere in the trial proceedings against him. «One has to be very careful while using social media.

One has to be diligent. Using social media is not essential but if one is using it then one should be ready to face consequences,» the court said, asking him to face trial. The criminal cases were filed in the courts of Chennai, Karur and Tirunelveli districts by a journalists' association in 2018.

Shekher moved the apex court after his plea to quash criminal proceedings was rejected by the Madras high court. High court last month had said, «A message that is sent or forwarded on social media is like an arrow which has already been shot from the bow. Till that message remains with the