Veteran Tamil actor and BJP functionary S.Ve.Shekhar has on Thursday expressed his regret to the Madras High Court for insulting the national flag, a month after he made the statement that demeaned the tricolor, which stirred the controversy and got the intervention of the Central Crime Branch department. 

The actor turned politician had, on August 3rd, released a video on his Youtube channel in which he painted religion on the colors of the tricolor by stating that the colors of the Indian flag had represented the religion. He has released a video as his response to Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami after the latter had condemned the act of saffronizing the statue of former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran after the statue was draped with a saffron cloth. 

Shekhar went on to question the Chief Minister whether he will hoist the national flag which has the saffron color on it that he thinks as a disgrace. The statement from Shekhar had strongly criticized and a Chennai based resident had moved his complaint to the police against the actor-politician over his video. The complainant said that the veteran actor had deliberately used the national flag to compare with the Chief Minister's statement and tried to mislead the public by spreading misinformation against the Chief Minister. 

By citing that the actor turned politician had misinterpreted the purpose of the saffron color, the complainant said that the actor has stated the saffron color in the national flag refers to Hindu, while white represents Christians and green for Muslims. The complainant stated that the BJP functionary had incited hatred, community violence, and promoting enmity between two groups by disrespecting the national flag. 

Based on the complaint, the police had registered an FIR against the actor turned politician under the grounds of Prevention of Insult to National Honor Act. The Crime Branch had been investigating the case. However, S.Ve.Shekhar had moved to the Madras High Court by seeking the anticipatory bail with the view of preventing himself from getting arrested. The court heard the case and asked the response from the Crime Branch on his petition. 

The Crime Branch had told the High Court that the actor-politician could be granted with the bail if he offers apology and assurance that he won't make any such remarks in the future. Following this, Shekhar has, on Thursday, responded to the High Court through an affidavit in which he expressed his regret on the remarks and assured that he will never insult the national flag in the future. 

In his affidavit, he assured the High Court that he would never utter any word or act in any manner which would cause an insult to the national flag for his lifetime. He further asserted that he values patriotism for the motherland and honor of the national flag more than anything around him.