Madras HC initiates contempt petition against ‘Savukku’ Shankar for comments against judge

Justice G R Swaminathan of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed registration of a suo motu case of contempt against whistleblower and popular social media influencer, ‘Savukku’ Shankar, for his tweets against him.

Justice Swaminathan, in his order, said he was “prima facie” satisfied that Shankar, who runs a website Savukku.com and appears regularly on Tamil YouTube channels giving his views on a host of issues, has crossed the “lakshman rekha” (exceeded his limits) in criticising him and his judgments.

Shankar is 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 focussing 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 wrote in the order.

The latest 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 scandalising the judiciary. Prima facie, Thiru Shankar had committed criminal contempt,” the judge said.

Shankar, who is a former employee of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC), 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.

Asking the court registry to serve a statutory notice on the whistleblower, the judge said Shankar is called upon to show cause as to why further action in the manner known to law should not to be taken against him.

He also said since larger issues have come up for consideration, the Registry is directed to implead social media intermediaries Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and serve notices on them through their compliance officers.

“Thiru Savukku Shankar has to appear in person before this Court, the compliance officers can appear through their counsel on the notified date. The compliance officers are directed to file an affidavit setting out the details of complaints received by them against Thiru Savukku Shankar so far and till the date of next hearing,” the judge said.

Justice Swaminathan also said the social media intermediaries shall set out the action taken by them on such complaints and also make a statement as to whether they had considered taking suo motu action to uphold and safeguard the dignity of the Indian judiciary.

He said the Secretary to Government, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is also suo motu impleaded in this case and directed the Registry to serve notice on the office of the Assistant Solicitor General of India for the Madurai Bench to assist the court.