No out of turn hearing of petition against ‘Savukku’ Shankar’s Goondas detention, says Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, refrained from hearing, out of turn, a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed against YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar’s detention under the Goondas Act and said that it would be taken up for final hearing in the regular course, by following the chronological order in which such petitions, challenging preventive detention orders, are filed.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, refrained from hearing, out of turn, a habeas corpus petition (HCP) filed against YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar’s detention under the Goondas Act and said that it would be taken up for final hearing in the regular course, by following the chronological order in which such petitions, challenging preventive detention orders, are filed.

A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Ramesh and Sunder Mohan accepted a request made by Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) E. Raj Thilak to file an additional counter affidavit, and directed the Registry to list it for hearing in the regular course. The decision was taken after the APP said the HCP had been filed even before an Advisory Board, constituted under the Act, could tender its opinion.

However, when Senior Counsel R. John Sathyan, representing the habeas corpus petitioner A. Kamala, the YouTuber’s mother, complained of him having been assaulted in prison and therefore sought his temporary release to avail medical treatment, the judges asked him to make a representation in that regard to the State government as provided under Section 15 of the Goondas Act. They also directed the State government to consider such a representation, on merits, and in accordance with law within eight weeks.

The HCP was filed during the summer vacation court last month, when Justice G.R. Swaminathan quashed the detention order even without waiting for a counter affidavit to be filed by the detaining authority, whereas the other judge in the Bench Justice P.B. Balaji decided to wait for the counter.

Following the disagreement between the two judges in the Bench, the matter was referred to a third judge, Justice G. Jayachandran, who, on June 6, 2024, ordered a fresh hearing of the HCP before the Division Bench led by Justice Ramesh holding the HCP portfolio at present.