NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by YouTuber Manish Kashyap seeking clubbing of First Information Reports (FIRs) and quashing of charges under the National Security Act (NSA) against him for making fake videos. The fake videos were created with the intention to instigate violence between Bihari workers and the people of Tamil Nadu.
“We can't be seen lending support to you. In a stable state like Tamil Nadu, you can’t create disquiet like this. You have the remedy of approaching the HC for removal of the National Security Act (NSA),” CJI DY Chandrachud remarked.
A bench also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala however granted Kashyap the liberty to approach Patna and Madras High Court for appropriate relief.
Kashyap in his plea while seeking consolidation of FIRs had also sought for interim bail. He in his plea had contended that many false FIRs were registered against him in Bihar and Tamil Nadu at the behest of the ruling governments in the respective state. “The cases against him have been filed because he has raised the issue of violence against the Bihar-based migrant labour in Tamil Nadu on social media,” the plea had stated.
Terming the filing of FIRs and invocation of NSA against Kashyap as a “complete malafide exercise”, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh on Monday had said, “If I’ve to be under NSA, every newspaper including economic times needs to be under the NSA.”
Opposing Singh’s submission, counsel for the state of Bihar while calling Kashyap a “habitual offender” had submitted that Kashyap in one of the cases had created a fake video in Patna city which portrayed that migrant labourers were being killed saying that the video was prepared in Tamil Nadu.
For the Tamil Nadu govt, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal said that Kashyap was using incidents from other states like Karnataka and depicting that the same happened in Tamil Nadu. Justifying the invocation of the provisions of the National Security Act against YouTuber Manish Kashyap, the Tamil Nadu government had earlier told the court that Kashyap by posting false and unverified
Videos across social media platforms attempted to instigate violence between Bihari migrant labourers and the people of Tamil Nadu and to create enmity among different groups on the grounds of language. The state had also said that six cases registered in the State of Tamil Nadu are under investigation which is being done in a fair and unbiased manner and that clubbing of FIRs against him will not do any justice since FIRs have been registered against different offences.