Forwarding social media posts equals endorsement, says Madras HC

Sharing or forwarding a message on social media amounts to accepting or endorsing the message, the Madras High Court has said.

The court made this statement while rejecting the anticipatory bail plea of BJP leader S Ve Shekher, who shared a derogatory post written by Thirumalai Sa on Facebook.

The post made derogatory remarks about women journalists, even suggesting that women journalists in Tamil Nadu sleep with "top bosses".

"Words are more powerful than acts, When a celebrity-like person forwards messages like this, the common public will start believing that this type of things are going on", the court said, as quoted by Live Law.

Shekher, an actor-turned politician, has claimed that he shared the message without carefully reading the content.

The court also said abusing women is a violation of rights.

"There cannot be any harsher words than this which portraits all working women coming up in life are sacrificing their chastity. The future of such working women is at stake. Instead of wiping out the wrong impression about working women among the public, these words create fear and anxiety among people who want to pursue a career," the court said, as quoted by Live Law.