Veteran actor and BJP leader S Ve Shekhar has on Tuesday invited fresh trouble after the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has denied his appeal of revoking the case that was filed against him under the grounds of sharing an abusive post on social media against women journalists. The bench had slammed the leader with a staunch questioning of why he had shared such a derogatory post without reading it.

Shekhar had shared a post on Facebook on April 19, 2018, which was in a fashion of demeaning and abusing the women journalists. His post, which had come days after Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit had patted the cheek of a woman journalist during a press meet, had stirred public outrage and several women journalists and activists had demanded stringent action against the BJP leader. Following the furore, Shekhar had issued a statement of apology. 

In his statement, Shekhar had claimed that the post was forwarded from some other person and he shared it without reading it. By maintaining that he doesn't endorse the views of the post, he said that he comes from a family that respects women and women journalists. Despite the apology, outrage against him had grown for insulting the journalists and based on a complaint, the Cyber Crime Wing in Chennai had in 2018 registered a case against Shekhar under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and a case on section 4 of Tamil Nadu prohibition of women harassment act. 

Shekhar had moved his petition to the Madras High Court to seek a directive of quashing the case filed against him. He has been battling legally against the case for the past three years and the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had on Tuesday refused to quash the case, giving a big shock to the BJP leader. According to reports, a case against Shekhar came before Justice Nisha Banu on Tuesday during which Shekhar's counsel has said that the actor-turned-politician has shared the post in 2018 without reading it and he regrets the act. 

Shekhar has sought the court to dismiss the case against him. However, after the hearing, Justice Nisha Banu had refused to quash the case and questioned the actor why the post was forwarded before reading it. She asked, "Will apologizing after doing the act rectify the issue?". By refusing to consider Shekhar's appeal to dismiss the case, Justice Nisha Banu had adjourned the case for next week.