TN: Senior BJP leader sentenced to one month Jail for offensive post against women journos
Chennai: A Chennai court has handed down a one-month prison sentence and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MLA S Ve Shekher. The case pertains to an offensive social media post targeting women journalists that Shekher had shared in April 2018.
Chennai Special Court judge G Jayavel, while delivering the verdict, emphasized that the crime had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The court observed that the post, which included derogatory and abusive comments about women journalists, warranted legal consequences.
In April 2018, the then Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit patted the cheek of a woman journalist and subsequently apologized for it. However, Shekar had shared a post on Facebook with derogatory and abusive comments about women journalists, for which he was booked by the police based on a complaint by the Tamil Nadu Journalist Protection Welfare Association.
Shekher, in an attempt to challenge the case, had approached the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court seeking its quashing. However, the High Court declined to do so, affirming the legal standing of the charges against him.
The offensive post, initially shared by Shekher's friend Thirumalai Sa, accused women journalists in Tamil Nadu of engaging in inappropriate behavior to advance their careers. Shekher, by forwarding the post, faced charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including intentional insult, statements conducing to public mischief, and insulting the modesty of a woman.
The post by Thirumalai Sa, Shekher’s friend, without naming the woman journalist in the incident said that her intention was to ‘target the Governor and Modi’. “It is actually the governor who has to wash his hands with Phenol after touching her. These (TN media persons) are cheap and disgusting creatures. Most people who work in the media in TN are usually Illiterate, cheap and don't have any general knowledge. This woman is not any different." The post also went on to accuse all women journalists in Tamil Nadu of sleeping around. "Recently this disgusting fact has come out through complaints that women cannot become reporters or anchors unless they sleep with top bosses. And with these faces, they come out to ask questions to the governor," it had stated.
Despite paying the imposed fine, Shekher submitted a petition in court, expressing his intention to appeal in the High Court. Consequently, the sentence has been stayed pending the outcome of the appeal.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
