YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar continues hunger strike in Madurai jail
text_fields
Chennai: YouTuber 'Savukku' Shankar, who was remanded to judicial custody, continues his hunger strike, demanding his visitors be allowed to see him in jail. Shankar was arrested in a contempt case for making remarks that the judiciary is riddled with corruption, IANS reported.
Shankar was in Madurai central prison after he was sentenced to six months in jail by the Madras High Court on September 15. Later he was shifted to Cuddalore jail, citing security reasons.
He was a government employee with the Tamil Nadu vigilance department, but he was given termination notice last week. However, he refused to accept the notice, and it got passed outside his cell in Cuddalore prison.
Shankar's family said that there was no proper communication on his dismissal from the government service. His family wanted Shankar to be shifted to Puzhal central prison because of health issues.
On July 22, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court took suo moto on Shankar's allegation against the judiciary through his YouTube channel. The bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and B. Pugalendhi had said, "If the contemnor had realized his mistakes and apologized, we would have closed the proceedings. The contemnor stuck to his position. In fact, his activities during the last few weeks would constitute acts of contempt on their own".
The court referred to the earlier sentences against Shankar for his actions and comments against Justice C.T. Selvam and also the pending CB-CID cases. Since he was a government servant, he had to adhere to the conduct rules.