The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, August 14, stayed any coercive action by the Tamil Nadu police against Tamil YouTuber A Shankar, widely known as ‘Savukku’ Shankar, in connection with 16 cases filed against him.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed Shankar’s counsel to provide a list of all the cases filed against Shankar. The Tamil YouTuber approached the top court after the Theni district administration slapped the Goondas Act on him. This was the second instance of Goondas Act on Shankar and that came days after the Madras High Court quashed an earlier Goondas case against him.
Advocate Balaji Srinivasan, who appeared on behalf of Shankar, argued that he has been booked in 16 cases, calling it a “modus operandi to silence his opinions against the present government of the State of Tamil Nadu”. LiveLaw reported that advocate Balaji argued that the state government was filing false cases against Shankar and subjecting him to custodial violence. He also alleged that Shankar is being threatened and placed under preventive detention under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act, and that he was being transported from place to place every day.
Shankar was booked in multiple cases and arrested in May this year, for making derogatory remarks about police personnel. In an interview, he alleged that women police personnel were giving sexual favors to a senior police officer in order to get promotions. Seventeen different cases have been filed for this comment, mostly on complaints lodged by police personnel. He was also booked in a case alleging him of possessing ganja.
On May 12, Shankar was detained under Goondas Act based on the orders passed by Chennai Commissioner of Police Sandeep Rai Rathore. On August 9, the Madras HC quashed the Goondas Act saying that there must be a “real threat or apprehension of large scale disturbance” among the people to invoke the term 'Public Disorder' and detain a person. Following this, on August 12, the Theni district administration slapped Goondas Act on the YouTuber in connection with a case filed against him in May for the possession of ganja.
The Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Cyber law offenders, Drug-offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Forest-offenders, Sand-offenders, Sexual-offenders, Slum-grabbers and Video Pirates Act, 1982, is shortly referred to as The Goondas Act. It is a stringent act that allows authorities to do preventive detention of habitual offenders, including murder accused, immoral traffic offenders, sexual offenders and other such offenders to prevent their dangerous activities that could be detrimental to public order. Within three weeks, the case has to be presented to an Advisory Board. The accused cannot get a bail till the detention order is cancelled by a court.