Social media users should be more careful about its impact, reach: SC
New Delhi (PTI): 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.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and P K Mishra was hearing a plea filed by Shekher against the July 14 order of the Madras High Court which had dismissed his petition seeking quashing of criminal proceedings relating to the post shared by him.
"If one uses social media, then he should be more careful about its impact and reach," the bench told the advocate representing the petitioner.
The lawyer argued that Shekher had put some medicine in his eyes on the date of the incident due to which he could not read the contents of the post which he shared.
The bench observed that one has to be careful while using social media.
It said if someone find it is essential to use social media, then he should be ready to face the consequences also.
In its order, the HC had noted Shekher is said to have "published/circulated an abusive, derogatory and vulgar comment in his Facebook account" on April 19, 2018 after which a complaint filed before the Chennai Commissioner of Police.
It had noted that an FIR was registered in the matter and other private complaints were also filed against him in various parts of Tamil Nadu.
Before the high court, Shekher's counsel had argued that he was not aware of the contents of the message that was sent to him and had merely forwarded the same from his Facebook account.
His counsel had said that after coming to know of the derogatory remarks contained in the message, Shekher removed the contents within a couple of hours on the same day and had followed it up with a letter dated April 20, 2018 whereby he had tendered an unconditional apology to the concerned women journalists and also to the media.
The high court had noted in its order that the counsel had submitted that during the pendency of matter, the petitioner was directed to file an affidavit tendering an apology which he did.
"A careful reading of the contents of the message that was forwarded from the Facebook account of the petitioner on April 19, 2018, showcases women journalists in a poor light. This court is very hesitant to even translate the message that was forwarded by the petitioner since, to say the least, it is despicable. The contents are highly derogatory against the press as a whole in Tamil Nadu," the high court had said.
It had further said, "We live in an era where social media has virtually taken over the lives of every individual in the world. A message sent/forwarded in the social media can reach the nook and corner of the world in no time."
The high court had said that considering the stature of the petitioner, he was expected to be more responsible while giving 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.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
