Madras HC seeks state's counter in 'Savukku' Shankar's goondas detention matter
Kamala, the mother of 'Savukku' Shankar, had alleged that her son was arrested as he stood against the failures of the government and exposed various scams and frauds done by politicians and bureaucrats.
Savukku Shankar; Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to file a counter to the habeas corpus petition (HCP) moved by controversial YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar’s mother seeking to quash the goondas detention invoked against her son.
The matter was listed before Justice G. Jayachandran to reach finality as a vacation bench had delivered a split verdict.
When Advocate General (AG) PS Raman sought time to file a counter, the judge directed him to file the counter on the merits of the case. The case was then posted to June 6 for further submission.
Kamala, the mother of 'Savukku' Shankar, had alleged that her son was arrested as he stood against the failures of the government and exposed various scams and frauds done by politicians and bureaucrats. His detention and having been charged with multiple cases display the vengeance unleashed by the police with malafide intention and complete motivation, the petitioner had said.
Savukku was booked for several offences, including for possession of ganja, forgery, stalking, harassment of women and for his comments against late politician and Thevar community patriarch Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar.
After hearing the petitioner and the state, a vacation bench of Justices GR Swaminathan and PB Balaji had delivered a split verdict on May 24 as they could not reach a consensus.
Justice GR Swaminathan had written in his judgement, "I am more than satisfied that the cases registered against Shankar do not have any potential whatsoever to disturb public order." It is ridiculous to claim that Shankar's statements will disturb the even tempo of social life, he said.
"The detention order indicates non-application of mind to the relevant fact on the part of the detaining authority; even if the detenue is granted bail in the cases mentioned in the grounds of detention, he still cannot be released from custody unless he is granted bail in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) case," wrote the judge, who quashed the detention.
However, the other judge held that the state should be permitted to file a counterclaim and to be heard. Since the bench delivered a split verdict, the acting Chief Justice of the High Court, R. Mahadevan, placed the matter before the third judge to reach finality.
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