CHENNAI: YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar's mother A Kamala moved the Madras High Court alleging that the prison authorities thrashed the YouTuber at the Coimbatore Central Prison inflicting grievous injuries.
Kamala moved a habeas corpus petition with a plea for ordering a judicial probe into the custodial violence and providing him proper treatment at a private hospital.
She said that her son exposing several issues, including scams of land mafia and other white collar criminals acting hand-in-glove with many bureaucrats, had earned him the wrath of the government and the corrupt officials who, in turn, had slapped false charges against him.
Stating that she came to know through Shankar’s lawyer that he was ‘brutally attacked’ by the jail wardens resulting in severe injuries and a fracture in the right hand, she alleged that he was beaten up with a steel pipe and the injuries were made to appear as if they were sustained in an accident.
Contending that the incidents made it clear that the violence took place under the supervision of senior prison officials, she further alleged that the officials did not arrange appropriate treatment for him, thereby violating the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The YouTuber’s mother prayed for a direction to the authorities concerned to conduct a ‘judicial inquiry’ regarding the ‘custodial violence’ and to provide ‘adequate medical treatment’ in a private hospital.
Shankar was arrested by the Coimbatore city police on May 4, 2024 after registering an FIR under various sections of IPC and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and the Information Technology Act for allegedly denigrating women police personnel and a top police officer. Later, he was remanded to judicial custody at the Coimbatore Central Prison.