Well-known YouTuber and whistleblower ‘Savukku’ Shankar began a hunger strike on the morning, of Friday, September 30, demanding that he be allowed to receive visitors in jail. Shankar has also asked to be transferred to Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai from Cuddalore Central Prison, where he is currently lodged. Shankar is serving a six-month sentence after the Madras High Court found him guilty of contempt of court for his remarks against the judiciary. Shankar has been prohibited from meeting visitors for a month, after he tore up a notice from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) dismissing him from service on September 24.
Speaking to TNM, Shankar’s advocate Pugalenthi said, “I met ‘Savukku’ Shankar yesterday in prison. He has decided to sit on hunger strike as jail authorities have barred him from receiving visitors for a month. He has been punished for tearing up the copy of the notice given to him. He has also placed a request to the jail authorities seeking a transfer from Cuddalore Central Prison to Chennai Central Jail which has not been fulfilled.”
On September 15, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court sentenced Shankar to six months in prison in the contempt case lodged against him for his statement, “The entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption,” on a YouTube channel. He was first lodged in Madurai Central Prison, and later shifted to the Cuddalore prison citing security reasons. When Shankar was sent the notice dismissing him from DVAC earlier this month, sources in Cuddalore prison had said that the notice had been pasted on the wall of his cell as he refused to accept it by hand.
Shankar was suspended from DVAC in 2008 for allegedly leaking secret phone conversations of two higher officials of the organisation. He had legally challenged the DVAC's decision to suspend him and was on subsistence allowance. During his contempt hearing, the court had observed that Shankar is a suspended employee of the state government. “He has been receiving a subsistence allowance for the last 13 years and is governed by the Conduct Rules. Yet, he has been attacking all three organs of the state viciously,” the court order had said.