The Supreme Court, on Thursday, July 18, granted interim bail to YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar in the case pertaining to his preventive detention under the Goondas Act. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah said that the bail was concerning only the preventive detention and would not apply for the other cases he is booked under. The bench also ruled that it would not decide on the merit of the case but he should be released till the case is decided by the Madras High Court.
“Since final opinion in this case has not been expressed by the HC and in sum and substance the HC is seized with the matter, we do not think it appropriate to decide this case on merits. Both the counsels have jointly stated that they will mention the matter before the CJ or before the appropriate bench on Monday or Tuesday itself, so as to request to expedite the matter… We make it clear that this order pertains only to the preventive detention matters before us. If the petitioner is in jail for any other matters this order will not affect that,” the court said in its order.
The apex court was hearing a petition challenging the Madras HC adjourning the habeas corpus petition that was filed by Shankar's mother challenging his detention under the Goondas Act. The HC adjourned the case stating that it would be heard in due course.
The YouTuber was arrested by the Tamil Nadu police on May 4, and was later booked in several cases, and was subsequently detained under the Goondas Act. His mother A Kamala had filed a habeas corpus petition at the Madras High Court alleging that Shankar was subjected to custodial torture and was suffering from serious health issues from it. It added that Shankar had exposed various scams involving politicians and bureaucrats, and stood up against the failures of the state government. The petitioner also informed the court that the detention of her son shows the "vengeance unleashed by the police with malicious intentions".
The court passed a split verdict with Justices GR Swaminathan quashing the detention order and Justice PB Balaji stating that the police must be given time to file a counter affidavit in the case. Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan appointed Justice G Jayachandran as the third judge in the case, who observed that there was no two conflicting views to resolve through reference to a third judge in the habeas corpus plea and ordered that the case be heard afresh by a bench that deals with habeas corpus pleas.
When the case came up for hearing before a bench of Justices MS Ramesh and Sunder Mohan, the bench refused to immediately hear the case and said that it can be heard only in the chronological order of filing the case. The case was posted for hearing after two months, when Kamala approached the apex court.
