The Madras High Court on Thursday expressed its displeasure over YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar, alias A. Shankar, having addressed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin in “highly disparaging terms” in his videos and wanted to know whether he was willing to give an undertaking regarding his future conduct.
A summer vacation Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and P.B. Balaji requested State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohamed Jinnah to make sure that either the YouTuber’s mother A. Kamala or any other representative meets him in person on Thursday and ascertain whether he was willing to give the undertaking.
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The judges wanted the result of the meeting to be placed before them on Friday when they shall hear a habeas corpus petition filed against his detention under the Goondas Act as well as a writ petition seeking a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) inquiry into the alleged custodial violence meted out to him in prison.
When it was brought to the notice of the judges that the first case in which he was arrested on May 4 was for having made derogatory remarks against women police personnel, the judges agreed that his conduct on social media had not been in good taste and he had crossed the line on many occasions.
“The dignity of a woman is paramount. He crossed that rubicon. He even addressed the Honourable Chief Minister in singular. Therefore, he should be ready to file a memo with a list of don’ts. It should be an undertaking. Be ready with instructions tomorrow,” Justice Swaminathan told two senior counsel representing Ms. Kamala.
Initially, when the habeas corpus petition was listed for admission in the forenoon session on Thursday, the judges asked Advocate-General P.S. Raman to make sure that the entire file related to the preventive detention order, passed by the Greater Chennai Commissioner of Police on May 12, was submitted in the court by afternoon.
Accordingly, the file was submitted around 2.30 p.m. However, since the court proceedings had to be wound up early for the farewell of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala, who retired from service on Thursday, the Bench decided to hear the habeas corpus petition as well as the writ petition at length on Friday.
Justice Swaminathan asked the prosecution to be ready even for the final hearing of the habeas corpus petition on Friday. In an affidavit, filed in support of the habeas corpus petition, Ms. Kamala alleged that her son had been detained with a mala fide intention because he was a strong critic of the State government and the police.
She said multiple cases were foisted on her son to incarcerate him and there was a “dubious” road accident when he was transported from Theni to Coimbatore pursuant to his arrest on May 4. She further alleged that the prison authorities had brutally attacked her son, leading to a fracture on his right arm.
