*Arappor Iyakkam's statement on the Conviction of Savukku Shankar for Contempt of Court*
It is a matter of concern that the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has convicted Savukku Shankar to 6 months of imprisonment for having committed contempt of court. The Supreme Court has often highlighted the key principle of law that `Justice should not only be done but also be "seen" to be done. It is in this light, and without getting into the merits or demerits of the case, we would like to point out that the hurried manner in which the contempt case was heard and judgement delivered without providing sufficient time to defend himself, raises concern.
The manner of the constitution of the bench with one of the Judges having already invoked contempt proceedings against Savukku Shankar, also being part of this bench, is equally a matter of concern. This concern remains even though the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court constituted this bench.
Although the bench in its order convicting Savukku Shankar noted that invoking the doctrine of broad shoulders will be seen as a weakness on the part of the Judiciary, in this case, we nevertheless feel that the Court could have been more restrained in the matter of sentence.
We are constrained to point out that the conviction of Savukku Shankar for contempt will have a "chilling effect" on common citizens from airing their grievances about Judicial functioning and the Judicial system.
It is a matter of regret that the contempt of Court power continues to be used in India even when there is widespread consensus that this law, which is of colonial vintage, has no place in the lawbooks of Independent India. We call upon all democratic-minded citizens to renew the demand that the criminal powers under the `Contempt of Court’ law should be repealed. Nothing can really scandalise a court peopled by judges of integrity
“Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?” asked Alexander Pope, wondering if strong means were needed to beat a petty adversary. The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has taken a sledgehammer to deal with YouTuber and blogger ‘Savukku’ A. Shankar, and sentenced him to a six-month jail term for some Tweets targeting the judiciary. As political commentary goes, his style of presenting his views is indeed quite trenchant. With a know-it-all air, he goes about giving purported background material, insinuating deals and designs behind developments, often without substantiation. It is no surprise then that he got into trouble. In his defence in the suo motu contempt proceedings, Mr. Shankar said his comments were aimed at questioning the under-representation of Dalits in the judiciary, and the excess representation to Brahmins, and that taken as a whole, his comments were aimed at improving the system. The court would have none of it, and deemed his comments contumacious. It noted that he expressed no regret or repentance, but affirmed that he would continue to speak about the judiciary after his release even if sent to prison. Even though Mr. Shankar made a personal insinuation against Justice Swaminathan, what really counted was his sweeping charge against the entire judiciary. This could have been dealt with by the Principal Bench in Chennai as the allegation was general in nature, but, unfortunately, it was posted before a Bench headed by Justice Swaminathan, who was the judge aggrieved by the earlier Tweet.
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