SC restrains Tamil Nadu Police from taking any coercive action against YouTuber-journalist

New Delhi:  The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted protection to YouTuber-journalist and a strong critic of ruling DMK government, Savukku Shankar against any coercive actions in 16 FIRs lodged against him by the Tamil Nadu police.

The apex court also agreed to examine his plea against a fresh detention order passed against him under the Goondas Act.

Advocate Balaji Srinivasan, appearing for Shankar, contended before a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that he has been put under preventive detention on Tuesday.

The court noted that it had earlier granted relief to him in the previous detention order.

On this, Srinivasan said he had been arrested afresh and taken on custodial remand unfairly for an interview given in October, 2023.

The bench asked the counsel to file a chart of all FIRs lodged against Shankar and allowed him to file a challenge to the latest detention order in the apex court itself.

The court issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government and fixed the matter for consideration on August 23.

Shankar was on July 18, 2024 granted interim bail by the apex court in a case of preventive detention under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Goonda, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Sand Offenders, Slum Grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1928 (Goondas Act). 

He has allegedly exposed corruption in Tamil Nadu and faced the wrath of the ruling DMK government.

In a writ petition filed through advocates Srinivasan, Harsha Tripathi and K Gowtham, Shankar contended that the Madras High Court had on August 9, 2024 quashed the detention order by a detailed judgment but the state government was parading him in various courts in multiple FIRs in connection with an interview given by him on April 30, 2024.

"In fact, in the first FIR, the petitioner has been released on bail. Now, the state is employing devious and illegal means to detain him in custody. Due to 16 subsequent FIRs lodged against the petitioner in various districts across the State, he has to travel to each district for all the court hearings, which is causing a toll on his mental and physical health," his plea said. 

He contended he should not be wrongfully prejudiced due to patently illegal and vindictive actions of the state government.

The petitioner contended he is an investigative journalist who has fearlessly exposed the illegal and corrupt activities of the ruling party in the state government. 

"The petitioner has been a strong voice of dissent in the state while exposing all the illegal acts of the government. The petitioner has voiced his opinions not only about the present government in power but also the previous government, when they did acts that were illegal in his opinion and according to the information given by his sources," he contended.

Since 2021, the petitioner claimed, he has been exposing the corrupt activities of bureaucrats and powerful politicians in the state of Tamil Nadu. 

"One notable exposé of the petitioner was that in the “cash for jobs” scam that led to the arrest of a powerful minister of the ruling party (Senthil Balaji) who was also forced to resign from his post. Resultantly, several Ministers and politicians of the ruling party have filed defamation cases against the petitioner," his plea claimed.