The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday began suo motu contempt proceedings against whistleblower and popular political commentator, ‘Savukku’ Shankar, for his comments on corruption in higher judiciary.
Shankar, a suspended employee of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption, runs a web portal under the name Savukku and is a regular on Tamil YouTube channels. In one of the interviews, Shankar said, “the entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption” after which Madurai Bench ordered suo motu contempt proceedings against him.
On Thursday, Shankar appeared before the bench of justices Justices G R Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi and defended his remarks. “I stand by what I said,'' Shankar told the bench when the judges asked whether he made the statement.
When justice Pugalendhi asked Shankar whether he had engaged a counsel to argue his case, Shankar said he would like to argue his case as advocates he tried were reluctant to appear for him. When the court said it can appoint someone from legal aid and that whether he had someone in mind, Shankar said he would want senior counsel N R Elango to represent him.
Elango is a Rajya Sabha MP of the DMK, and Shankar’s choice surprised everyone as the whistleblower is one of the ardent critics of the DMK government. The court has granted a week’s time for Shankar to file his response and posted the matter to September 8.
Justice Swaminathan had on July 19 initiated another contempt petition against Shankar for his tweets against him, while noting that the whistleblower was unsparing in his attack on individuals and institutions including the judiciary, justice Swaminathan noted, adding that while even strident criticism is permissible, defamatory vilification is not.
“He (Shankar) has been focusing his gaze on me for the last several months. He had commented on many of my judgments in the most uncharitable language. His attacks have often been personal. Since I am a strong believer in upholding freedom of speech and expression, I did not pay heed to them. However, his latest tweet appears to have crossed the lakshman rekha,” the judge had written in his order.
The tweet posted on July 18, justice Swaminathan said, Shankar questioned his integrity by asking who I met at 6 am at Azhagar Koil in Madurai while hearing a case pertaining to another YouTuber Maridhas.
“By this innuendo, Thiru Shankar is suggesting that the outcome of the Maridhas case was influenced by the person I am alleged to have met. This is clearly scandalizing the judiciary. Prima facie, Thiru Shankar had committed criminal contempt,” the judge had said.
Shankar was arrested in 2008 by the then DMK government for allegedly leaking a tape containing audio conversations of two top officials. After his release from the jail, Shankar became a whistleblower and exposed several scams.