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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Centre spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print media ads for RSS centenary, reveals RTI
New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.
The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.
Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.
“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.
RTI reply shows Min of Culture Govt of India spent a Whopping Rs 76L,13K,129 on Advertisement in Print Media on occasion of 100 yrs of #RSS
— AJAY Basudev Bose (@AjayBos93388306) April 16, 2026
When Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??@RSSorg… pic.twitter.com/dW4IUtdNCg
Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”
Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.
In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project” and questioned the government’s decision to fund advertisements related to the organisation’s centenary.
According to reports, the RSS, founded in 1925, describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.
