The Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) stayed the Tamil Nadu Police from taking any coercive measures against YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar in 16 FIRs registered against him in various districts of the State.
Appearing before a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, advocates Balaji Srinivasan Harsha Tripathi and K. Gowtham Kumar, for Mr. Shankar, said all the 16 FIRs pertain to an interview given by him to a YouTube channel.
Mr. Srinivasan urged the court to quash the 16 FIRs. The Court has issued notice while listing the case on August 23.
The police claimed that he had made derogatory remarks against its women personnel in the interview. Mr. Srinivasan countered that his client was merely exercising his right to free speech, for which the State was “not prosecuting, but persecuting him”.
“He was detained yesterday even after they knew that he had moved the Supreme Court,” Mr. Srinivasan submitted in court.
On July 18, the Supreme Court had ordered the interim release of Mr. Shankar, who had at the time already been in preventive detention under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act for about two months, since May.
Mr. Srinivasan said the Madras High Court had subsequently quashed the State’s order of detention against Mr. Shankar in a detailed judgment on August 9.
“The High Court judgment was based on a reasoning that the malice of the State was writ large and that individual freedom cannot be clamped down on the whims and fancies of the State,” the lawyer submitted.
Recently, the Supreme Court had observed that the State should not end up being too harsh on Mr. Shankar.
The Court had pointed out that preventive detention was a “serious law”. It had asked the State whether Mr. Shankar was a “threat to national security”.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, for the State of Tamil Nadu, had termed Mr. Shankar a “habitual offender” who made denigrating remarks against women police personnel during an interview.
The Court had however said the dictum “justice must not only be done but seen to be done” should not be reduced to a mere catchphrase by the State.
Published - August 14, 2024 12:17 pm IST
