The Madras High Court passed an interim injunction on August 23 against YouTuber Savukku Shankar, restricting him from publishing and circulating information on social media, against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Minister V Senthil Balaji on Tuesday. The Minister had filed a case against Savukku Shankar alleging a smear campaign against him and claimed that his reputation was tarnished by the videos and the tweets published by Savukku.
The minister said in court, “The defendant (Savukku Shankar) has made a career out of making false, vile, scandalous accusations against the institutions of this country. The defendant is often a proxy voice for persons who want to target members of the legislature, executive or judicial branch of the government.” Referring to a 31-minute long YouTube video published on July 29 2022, the affidavit claimed that this video made a false allegation that Senthil Balaji runs all the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) bars. It said, “Such an allegation is per se false and defamatory and shows a complete lack of understanding of the structure of TASMAC.” The affidavit mentions that there are tenders floated at the district level and the Minister has nothing to do with it.
The affidavit mentions that, in the same video, Savukku Shankar had implied that Senthil Balaji had something to do with the death of 45-year-old Bhaskar, who was working as the Junior Assistant in the Tamil Nadu government’s Metropolitan Transport Corporation posted at Saidapet Depot in Chennai when the job racket scam broke out. Senthil Balaji was the Minister of Transport with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) when Bhaskar had died due to poisoning under mysterious circumstances. The job racket involved the collection of several crore rupees in bribes from candidates aspiring for jobs as drivers, conductors and mechanics in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai (MTC) and Senthil Balaji was named as a key accused.
Another video published by Savukku Shankar on December 13, 2021 apparently alleged that all the solar power plants in Tamil Nadu would get connection only if they paid Senthil Balaji Rs 20 lakhs per megawatt. Another video published on July 6, 2022, the Minister says Savukku referred to him as ‘the next Eknath Shinde of Tamil Nadu’ alluding that he plans to split the DMK party and bring down the ruling government.
“The plaintiff is not against genuine journalists who follow journalistic ethics and good practices, undertake investigative journalism, to expose corruption, verify facts and have genuine sources for their articles and publications. The defendant however does not fall under that category,” the affidavit said.
Senthil Balaji’s defence made three demands. One, the court should direct Savukku Shankar to pay him Rs 2 crores for causing “mental agony, anguish, and loss of reputation.” Two, he asked for a permanent injunction restraining the YouTuber from publishing, printing, broadcasting, disseminating or circulating any content on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook that is defamatory of the Minister. Three, Savukku Shankar must remove all the content defaming Senthil Balaji from all social media platforms.