The Madras High Court on Thursday, September 15, held Youtuber and whistleblower 'Savukku' Shankar guilty of contempt of court for his remarks against the judiciary, and sentenced him to six months in prison in the contempt case lodged against him. Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court had initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against the YouTuber for his remarks where he had said that the “entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption.”
Shankar asked for the court to suspend his sentence, but the court is believed to have denied his request. Section 389 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the suspension of a sentence if the convicted person is planning to appeal the court’s decision. This is mostly allowed for those sentenced to jail for three years or less. The High Court, however, has turned down Shankar’s appeal, saying that Shankar has not shown remorse for his remarks and that instead, he has said that he will continue to make remarks critical of the judiciary.
"He has gone to the extent of stating that he can be sentenced only to a maximum of six months and that after coming out, he will focus all his attention exclusively on judges and judiciary...There are occasions when Judges have to be firm and stern. Shrugging off such provocations by stating that we possess broad shoulders would be seen as a sign of weakness," the bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and B Pugalendhi said.
Shankar appeared before the Madurai bench of the High Court and submitted to the bench that he stands by his statement that the judiciary is “riddled with corruption”. "Some of my comments may seem problematic when viewed in isolation. But, the truth becomes clear when seen in its context. It is not my intention to tarnish the dignity of the judiciary,” he told the court.
The High Court had first initiated contempt proceedings against the former Tamil Nadu Vigilance department official after observing that he had ‘crossed the Lakshman Rekha’ with one of his tweets. Justice GR Swaminathan had then cited a particular tweet by Shankar, where the YouTuber had implied that the judge had ‘met someone,’ allegedly to get a favourable verdict in the case against right-wing YouTuber Maridhas.
“…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 (sic),” Justice Swaminathan had said in the order ordering the contempt case against him.
Later, a second contempt case was filed against ‘Savukku’ Shankar. Justice Swaminathan had noted that on July 22, three days after the first contempt case was filed against him, Shankar had made the comment, “The entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption,” on the YouTube Channel, Red Pix.
The Madras HC judge said that it had been established by the Supreme Court that if a publication attacks individual judges or the court as a whole, with or without reference to a particular case, or if it casts unwarranted and defamatory aspersions upon the character or ability of the judges, it would amount to “scandalising the court” and therefore, amounted to contempt.
A few days ago, another bench of the Madras High Court had restrained Shankar from passing comments on G Square Realtors. The company G Square Realtors had filed a case seeking a restraining order and a sum of around Rs 1 crore in damages from Shankar.
With inputs from Balakrishanan