The Madras High Court.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Chennai: Whistleblower and YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar has knocked at the doors of the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu Police to club all 17 FIRs registered against him at various police stations in the state for his derogatory comments on women police personnel made during an interview.
Shankar, a former employee of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), was arrested on May 4 from Theni by the Coimbatore Cyber Crime Wing police for his comments made during an interview with Felix Gerald of the RedPix YouTube channel. After the arrest, as many as 16 FIRs were filed across the state in connection with the same interview which meant Shankar being taken to districts to appear before various courts.
In the petition, Shankar alleged that the cases were filed against him by
“certain government authorities and the present ruling party” to wreak out their vengeance against him and noted that he was also detained under the stringent Goondas Act.
“It is submitted that the respondent police had registered cases against the petitioner throughout the state for the very same incident. The (cases) are registered at various police stations which establishes the intention of the officials to harass him by making him run several districts to contest the case which would be a herculean task,” the petition alleged.
Shankar also claimed that the cases foisted against him were “all false and done only to prevent him from being free” and termed the police action as “targeted, arbitrary, and ruthlessly vindictive.” While Gerald was granted bail by the Madras High Court last week, Shankar continues to remain in jail.
“Apart from this, new cases are being planted and foisted against him every other day. In the name of producing him before the Courts, he is being paraded from district to district in the police van. At a time when there is a facility of video conferencing in every courtroom,” he said.
The petition contended that Shankar doesn’t defend his action, but maintained that only courts can decide if he had intentionally made those comments.
Meanwhile, Shankar, while being taken to appear before a court, told reporters that he was being targeted because the government feared him. “Udhayanidhi Stalin is scared of me. That is why new cases are filed against me,” he added.
Shankar made defamatory comments against women police personnel alleging that they make compromises with senior officials to get postings in the department. At one point in the interview, Shankar also calls a police officer a “scoundrel.” Police also arrested Felix Gerald, the YouTuber who aired the interview.
Shankar is a regular on Tamil YouTube channels and is a known critic of the DMK government. He spent over two months in jail in 2022 after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court sentenced him to six months in jail in a suo motu contempt proceedings against him for his statement that “the entire higher judiciary is riddled with corruption.”