NEW DELHI/MADURAI: YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar, who has been incarcerated for months in various cases, walked out of jail on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ordered his release “forthwith”.
The apex court ordered his immediate release after the Tamil Nadu government told the court the state’s advisory board had revoked his detention under the Goondas Act.
“Acting on the opinion of the Advisory Board, the state has revoked the order of detention today … In view of the aforesaid, the detenue Shankar @ ‘Savukku’ Shankar shall be released forthwith, if not required in any other case,” a two-judge bench, led by Justice J B Pardiwala, said.
After dictating the order, the judges told the senior advocates appearing for Tamil Nadu that if the order of detention was not withdrawn, they would have come down hard on the state government. Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddarth Luthra appeared for the state government.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters outside the Madurai Central Jail after being released on Wednesday, ‘Savukku’ Shankar charged that there is no freedom of press in Tamil Nadu. “I suffered severe humiliation and mental stress during police interrogation. My arm was broken in three places,” Shankar said.
Press freedom under assault, we will be back in full force: Savukku
“Whenever the police took me into custody, they set out conditions for my release. But I refused to bow to those conditions,” he said. “The ‘Savukku’ YouTube channel and bank accounts were frozen. The pension account of my mother and seven other bank accounts were frozen.
Employees associated with Savukku media were threatened and cases were registered against them. This should not be seen as an action against some individuals, it’s an assault against freedom of press. We will be back in full force to speak the truth,” he added.
After SC order, Balaji Srinivasan, one of the lawyers for Shankar, told TNIE, “... the government withdrew the order under immense pressure from the Supreme Court proceedings.” Shankar (48) was arrested by the Coimbatore police from Theni on May 4 for allegedly making derogatory statements about women police personnel and some Madras High Court judges in an interview to the YouTube channel ‘RedPix 24x7’ on April 30, which led to several FIRs being filed against him.
Besides, the YouTuber also faces a case lodged by Theni police for alleged ‘ganja’ possession. HC had on August 9 set aside the Chennai city police commissioner’s order to detain Shankar under the Goondas Act. It had also directed that the YouTuber be set at liberty forthwith if he was not required in any other case. On August 14, the apex court had asked the TN police not to take any coercive action Shankar on the basis of these FIRs.
