Social media users should be more careful about its impact, reach: Supreme Court

Digital Desk: The Supreme Court has said social media users should be careful about its impact and reach as it dismissed a petition filed by actor and former Tamil Nadu MLA S Ve Shekher who is facing cases for sharing a Facebook post in 2018 allegedly containing derogatory remarks against women journalists.

Shekher appealed the Madras High Court's ruling dismissing his petition to have the criminal proceedings against him related to the post he shared on July 14 before a bench of Justices B R Gavai and P K Mishra.

The bench told the advocate representing the petitioner, "If one uses social media, then he should be more careful about its impact and reach." 

The defence claimed that Shekher had put eye medicine in his eyes on the day of the incident, making it difficult for him to see the post's contents.

The bench noted that using social media needs caution.

It stated that if someone thinks it necessary to use social media, he should be prepared to deal with consequences as well.

In its ruling, the HC stated Shekher is said to have "published/circulated an abusive, derogatory and vulgar comment in his Facebook account" on April 19, 2018, following which a complaint was made to the Chennai Commissioner of Police.

It had noted that an FIR had been filed in the case and that further private complaints had been made against him in several Tamil Nadu locations.

Shekher's lawyer had claimed before the high court that he had simply forwarded the message from his Facebook account and was unaware of its contents.

His lawyer claimed that after learning of the offensive remarks in the message, Shekher quickly deleted it the same day and followed it up with a letter, dated April 20, 2018, in which he offered a sincere apology to the offended female journalists as well as the media.

The petitioner was instructed to file an affidavit during the pendency of the case in which he offered an apology, as the high court had highlighted in its ruling.

"A close examination of the message's contents shows that it negatively paints women journalists. It was forwarded from the petitioner's Facebook account on April 19, 2018. The petitioner's message was sent, and this court is very hesitant to even translate it since, to put it roughly, it is despicable. The contents are extremely disparaging of Tamil Nadu's press as a whole," the high court said.

The statement said, "Social media has practically taken over every person's life in the world in the modern day. A message sent or forwarded via social media can quickly reach every location in World."

The high court had stated that given the petitioner's prominence, it was reasonable to expect him to act with more caution while making statements or forwarding messages.

"A message that is sent or forwarded in the social media is like an arrow, which has already been shot from the bow," it had said.