Contentious battle: YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar to be produced before special court in Madurai in May | Photo: R. Ashok

The Supreme Court on Thursday (August 23, 2024) sought the response of the Tamil Nadu government to a plea filed by YouTuber Savukku Shankar’s mother, challenging an August 12 detention order issued by the state against him under the Goondas Act.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud immediately put the state on notice after hearing arguments put forward by advocate Balaji Srinivasan, along with advocates K. Gowtham Kumar and Harsha Tripathi appearing for A. Kamala, that the arrest warrant was “completely absurd, unsubstantiated and downright illegal”.

Mr Srinivasan said the detention order was the second in a row, and that it came just three days after the first order was quashed by the Madras High Court. The Supreme Court is also examining an appeal filed by Shankar challenging the registration of 16 FIRs against him in Tamil Nadu.

In the second arrest warrant he was described as a “drug offender.”

“The state is afraid that the prisoner (Shankar) will be released soon and is therefore trying to keep him in custody by any means… He is currently in custody in Madurai without any access to his lawyers… He is an investigative journalist who fearlessly exposes the illegal and corrupt activities of the ruling party in the state government,” the petition reads.

The court scheduled the case for a hearing on August 27.