The Madras High Court confirmed actor SVe Shekher’s one-month imprisonment sentence for a derogatory social media post against women journalists. Despite appealing the conviction and defending his actions, shekher’s arguments were dismissed. He has ninety days to challenge the order in the Supreme Court, after which the sentence will be executed.
Chennai: The Madras High Court has upheld the one-month imprisonment sentence handed to actor and politician SVe Shekher for posting a derogatory message against women journalists on social media. The ruling comes after Shekher challenged his conviction in a revision petition, which was dismissed by Justice P Velmurugan.
The case stems from an incident in 2018, when the Cyber Crime Wing of the Greater Chennai Police filed charges against Shekher for his offensive post targeting women journalists. Shekher had originally moved the High Court to quash the case, but the court dismissed his request, directing the trial court to expedite proceedings. Eventually, the trial court convicted Shekher and imposed a one-month prison sentence, along with a fine of Rs 15,000.
While confirming the trial court’s decision, Justice Velmurugan stated,
“The revision petition is dismissed. The conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court is confirmed.”
Shekher’s legal team had argued that the trial court did not properly consider the facts of the case and questioned the reasoning behind the judgment. They further claimed that Shekher had merely forwarded a message that he had received on his mobile phone without reading its contents. Upon being alerted to the objectionable content, Shekher deleted the post and issued an apology on the same day.
Additionally, Shekher’s counsel contended that the trial court relied on electronic evidence without proper certification under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, which is necessary for the admissibility of electronic records.
However, despite these arguments, the High Court maintained the conviction, but granted Shekher ninety days to approach the Supreme Court with a special leave petition if he wished to challenge the order further. Justice Velmurugan made it clear that no extensions would be granted beyond this period, and that the trial court’s sentence would be executed thereafter.
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