The Madras High Court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Bharatiya Janata Party leader S Ve Shekher who had shared a Facebook post with derogatory remarks about female journalists, reported The News Minute. Justice S Ramathilagam directed the police to carry out the investigation as they would on a normal complaint.

Shekher had approached the High Court on April 24 seeking anticipatory bail in a case registered with the Cyber Crime Cell of the Central Crime Branch in Chennai. He claimed that he had shared the Facebook post without reading it first.

Shekher had shared a post titled, “Madurai University, Governor and the Virgin Cheeks of a Girl”, from the account of a user named Thirumalai S, about Governor Banwarilal Purohit patting a journalist on her cheek during a press conference. “Recent complaints show that they [journalists] cannot become reporters or anchors without sleeping with big shots,” the post read, reported NDTV.

On May 3, the Madras High Court pulled up the Tamil Nadu police for inaction on the complaint against Shekher, according to The Times of India. The court asked why the department was acting in a biased manner on the complaint lodged by a journalist on April 20.