The Madras High Court on Friday, December 26, granted interim bail to YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar for a period of 12 weeks, considering his health condition and the “repeated curtailment of his personal liberty” following a plea by his mother Kamala. Slamming the Tamil Nadu police, the High Court said that Shankar’s prompt arrest related to an alleged transfer of Rs 94,000 to his employee was “orchestrated” to falsely implicate him in a criminal case.
Shankar, a vocal critic of the ruling DMK government, was arrested on December 13 and lodged in the Puzhal Central Prison.
On December 12, at around 3.30 pm, Rs 94,000 was transferred via Gpay to Nitish, who works as an anchor in Savukku media. Before Nitish could make a complaint about this, the police at 7.45 pm registered an FIR. The very next day, at 6.30 am, Shankar was arrested from his residence.
“The sequence and timing of these events clearly establish that the alleged transfer was orchestrated as a trap to falsely implicate the petitioner’s son and secure his arrest in a fabricated criminal case,” Justice SM Subramaniam said in the common order.
Shankar was arrested for allegedly failing to comply with the summons in the alleged extortion case filed by one Purushothaman, a film producer. In another case, Rs 94,000 was allegedly unauthorisedly sent to his employee’s Gpay account.
The Court said that the affidavit shows Shankar has been frequently harassed by the Law Enforcement Agency. The Court also questioned why the YouTuber has repeatedly been incarcerated. “It raises suspicion as to whether the petitioner’s son herein has become a target of the ruling dispensation as alleged by her. The history of this individual showcases instances where the Goondas Act has been invoked against this individual repeatedly for expressing his views on YouTube videos on the actions of the state government,” the Madras HC noted.
Abuse of power
The Court observed that when a detention order was issued against Shankar on May 12, 2024, under the (Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug-offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders and Slum-grabbers Act, 1982 (Tamil Nadu Act 14 of 1982), commonly referred to as Goondas Act, the High Court had set it aside on August 9, 2024. However, the police promptly issued another detention order within three days.
Suspecting abuse of power by the police, the HC in its order said, “This raises serious questions as to whether there has been any abuse of process of law on the part of the State Government’s Law Enforcement Agency. This is highly unusual where the same individual has been slapped with two detention orders, and the 2nd detention order was passed immediately after the 1st detention order was set aside by this Court.”
The Court said that the allegations made by the petitioner regarding repeated mental and other harassment were serious in nature, and observed that the police had been misusing the law to target him.
“This can cause serious disrepute to the Law Enforcement Agency. This Court has time and again reiterated that due process of law shall not be misused to target specific individuals who have fallen out of favour with the State Government. The professionalism and discipline of the uniformed personnel shall not be compromised under any circumstances by indulging in such forceful action unnecessarily. This series of allegations and the nature and mode of arrest as detailed in the affidavit raise suspicion as to the veracity of the allegations against the petitioner’s son,” the Court said.
The Court further said that the repeated arrest of Shankar can be construed as “abuse of process of law.”
“The repeated clamping down of an individual, who has the right to dissent under Article 19(1)(a), will not send the right signal to the citizens of our great nation. This Court feels that the right to personal liberty of Mr.A.Shankar / Prisoner under Article 21 has been repeatedly curtailed, which can only be construed as an abuse of the process of law.”
The Court granted him bail under the condition of a personal bond of Rs 1 Lakh, considering his health.
Shankar is a cardiac patient. On December 18, he was taken to the Saidapet Hospital and subsequently to the Government Royapettah Hospital after he developed a fever. The affidavit said there were no medical facilities in the prison to treat Shankar’s cardiac ailments.