SC relief to BJP leader in Facebook post case
New Delhi, May 22: In a relief to BJP leader S.Ve. Shekher, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Tamil Nadu Police not to take any coercive action till June 1 against him.
Shekher had moved the top court seeking anticipatory bail in connection with a criminal case registered against him for his alleged derogatory social media post against women journalists.
The post allegedly made insinuations against the media and women journalists after 78-year-old Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit patted a woman journalist on the cheek, apparently seeking to avoid answering a question she had asked.
A bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice Navin Sinha issued the notice on Tuesday offering relief to Shekher from immediate arrest.
Shekher had already apologised and deleted the alleged Facebook post in April. He had said that the derogatory post was reportedly penned by one of his friends, S. Thirumalai, questioning the chastity of women journalists and shared it on Shekher's Facebook page in April.
The Madras High court had dismissed his initial anticipatory bail plea. The high court had 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 of the police had registered a case against Shekher under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act.
The High Court had pulled up police for their inaction on the complaint lodged against Shekher and even asked why the department was acting in a biased manner on the complaint against him.
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Kulkarni became victim of BJP conspiracy as he grew politically in North Karnataka: Shivakumar
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Bengaluru (PTI): Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claimed on Friday that Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a murder case, has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy because he was growing politically in the north Karnataka region.
Stating that he has faith in Kulkarni and believes he has done nothing wrong, he said the former minister will fight the case legally by filing an appeal.
A Bengaluru court on Friday sentenced Kulkarni and fifteen others to life imprisonment in the BJP leader Yogeshgouda Goudar murder case.
On Wednesday, Santhosh Gajanan Bhat, Judge of the Special Court for cases involving elected representatives, convicted Kulkarni and others under various IPC sections, including criminal conspiracy and murder.
“I respect the court. But there was a big conspiracy in this case. When the police were about to file a B-report, the CBI was given the case to harass him (Kulkarni). Vinay Kulkarni has become a victim of a BJP conspiracy as he was growing politically in north Karnataka,” Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, he said Kulkarni has several legal options.
“I have spoken to his family. He swore on God and told me that he had not done anything wrong. I still have faith in him. I feel that he has not done anything wrong. He has an opportunity to file an appeal,” he said, adding that he stands with Kulkarni’s family and supporters and believes he will get justice.
The case pertains to the killing of Goudar, a BJP zilla panchayat member, in Dharwad on June 15, 2016. Kulkarni was a minister at the time. Hired assailants allegedly attacked and hacked Goudar to death in his gym in Saptapur, Dharwad.
Following demands from Goudar’s family and others, the then-BJP government transferred the case to the CBI in 2019.
Veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, under whose tenure the case was handed over to the CBI, told reporters in Chikkamagaluru, “I said what I needed to say when the crime happened, and what I said—that the guilty should be punished and justice should be served—has proven true.”
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, BJP leader and MLC C T Ravi, reacting to the court order, said, “Justice delayed, but not denied.”
