CHENNAI: Well-known YouTuber "Savukku" Shankar has been sentenced to six months of judicial detention by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court in connection with comments he made about the higher judiciary.

The court had pronounced a "suo moto" contempt of court case against him because of comments he made in an interview to a YouTube channel on July 22 about how rotten the entire higher judiciary is.

The court's panel of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and B. Pugalendhi noted that the YouTuber neither expressed regret for his remarks nor offered an apology.  It went on to note that "Savukku" Shankar had in fact said that his accusations were justified.

The bench further stated that his remarks would diminish the respect and dignity of courts and judges in the eyes of the public.

If the contemnor had realised his error and offered a sincere apology, we would have ended the case. But instead of doing that, the critic maintained his stance. The judges stated that his actions during the last few weeks would be considered acts of censure on their own.

They stated that the YouTuber was still ranting against the judiciary six years after the Madras High Court started contempt of court proceedings against him.

"The contemnor has expressed his resolve to continue his attack on the judiciary," the bench declared. He has gone so far as to claim that the utmost term he may receive is six months, and that upon his release, he will devote all of his attention to the judiciary and judges.

There are times when judges must be tough and uncompromising. It would be interpreted as a sign of weakness to shrug off such provocations by claiming that we process them with broad shoulders. The contemptor has demonstrated that he is an unrepentant person. The court further noted that the defendant was a well-known YouTuber with millions of viewers of his interviews.

The harshest descriptions of judges and courts can be found in the comment area of his interviews. Without exaggeration, it can be said that the critic has thousands of people's ears on social media, and his remarks have the negative effect of diminishing this institution's respect and dignity. The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology was also given a directive by the court to ensure that the offensive interviews and publications be immediately removed.

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