Madras HC Grants Bail To YouTuber Savukku Shankar Booked For Spreading Misinformation About Investigation In Land 'Scam' Case

The vacation court of Justice GR Swaminathan, while granting bail, orally remarked that the charges against Shankar did not warrant an arrest. The judge wondered how the State could arrest Shankar for such a case. When the state submitted that Shankar had been spreading misinformation through his channel and other channels, the judge commented that the state could choose not to listen to the interview.

“How could you arrest somebody for this? You just don't listen to the interview. Those who are interested will listen. That's all,” the judge orally remarked.

The present case was registered based on a complaint by the Inspector of Police, Land Fraud Investigation Wing. The inspector submitted that he came across an interview of Shankar on his YouTube channel “Savukku Media” where he had made baseless allegations in connection with the investigation of a land scam case.

Following this, when Shankar was summoned for inquiry, he questioned the authority of the inspector and refused to cooperate. The inspector also alleged that Shankar reiterated his remarks to the reporters which amounted to interference in the investigation and the false information created an alarm among the people and instigated them to commit offences against the state and public tranquillity. Thus, the inspector lodged a complaint with the Assistant Commissioner of Police and an FIR was registered for offences under Section 221, 222, 353 (1) (b), and 353(2) of the BNS.

In his plea, Shankar submitted that the FIR was filed with malicious intent and that he never intended to spread false information. Shankar further submitted that he was acting within the ambit of freedom of speech under Article 19 of the Constitution and never created any alarming situation instigating people to commit offences against the state. He accused the police of acting with vengeful intent and arresting him on false allegations, thus subjecting him to mental agony and humiliation.

It may be noted that Shankar was detained under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act last year, for making adverse remarks against women police officers. Though the High Court ultimately quashed the detention order, the State slapped another detention order on Shankar. When the matter ultimately reached the Supreme Court, the state informed the court that it had revoked the detention order. The Supreme Court recorded the submission and ordered Shankar's ultimate release.

However, in December last year, Shankar was arrested again when the Special Court for NDPS Cases issued a non-bailable warrant against him for failing to appear before the court in connection with the proceedings related to a Ganja case registered against Shankar by the Theni police. Later, he was also arrested by the State again for spreading misinformation about the land scam cases.

Case Title: A Shankar @ Savukku Shankar v The State

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 16

Case No: Crl OP 1212 of 2025