In a complete 180-degree turn, the Chief Justice of India Chandrachud, who advocated that the power of arrest be used sparingly in the case of serial liar Mohammed Zubair’s arrest, has now refused to interfere with the Tamil Nadu government’s invocation of the National Securities Act on Bihar YouTuber Manish Kashyap.
The Supreme Court turned down Youtuber Manish Kashyap’s request on Monday (8 May 2023) to combine the FIRs brought against him in both Bihar and Tamil Nadu for spreading false information about attacks on Biharis in that Tamil Nadu through videos he uploaded on YouTube. The bench, which included Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala, also denied his request to quash his detention under the National Security Act. The bench has, however, granted Kashyap the right to petition the High Court for the reliefs.
CJI DY Chandrachud said orally during the hearing, “You have a stable state, the state of Tamil Nadu. You circulate anything to create disquiet…we can’t be be lending our ears to this.” As soon as the matter was taken, CJI asked, “What is to be done? You produce these fake videos…”
It is to be noted Tamil Nadu has witnessed a spate of law and order incidents including a car bomb blast outside a temple on the wee hours a day before Deepavali 2022.
Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, representing Kashyap, argued that he made the videos based on media reports published by certain mainstream newspapers, and that if he is detained under the NSA, then journalists from those newspapers must also be detained under the NSA.
It should be noted that Dhainik Bhaskar, India’s largest Hindi-language daily newspaper owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group, broke the story of Biharis being attacked in Tamil Nadu with an alleged fake video. Later, YouTuber Manish Kashyap shared the video as he believed what was published in Dhainik Bhaskar was true.
However, instead of filing a FIR against the Daainik Bhaskar group, the DMK government imposed NSA on a YouTuber who republished what Daainik Bhaskar published in its news.
It should also be noted that the same Justice Chandrachud, while hearing a petition against serial fake news peddler Mohammed Zubair, stated that the power to arrest should be used sparingly. He said while hearing Zubair’s bail plea, “we direct Zubair be released on bail on each of the FIRS in UP. Existence of powers of arrest must be distinguished from the excercise of powers of arrest which must be used sparingly.”
However, in a complete 180-degree turn, Justice Chandrachud refused to grant any relief to Bihari YouTuber Manish Kashyap and advised him to seek relief from the High Court.
same CJI stated the polar opposite rule for another Tamil origin Mohammed Zubair. pic.twitter.com/6Vyohug7eq
— Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) May 8, 2023
Zubair can put out an edited clip to make it look out of context. This clip caused unrest & communal violence all across India which resulted in 8 Hindus getting killed by peacefuls. Were you sleeping then Mr Chandrachud or are laws different if the accused is a Muslim?? https://t.co/R0RsaDuR3E
— The Punisher (@ThePunisher1958) May 8, 2023
Chandrachud is the most biased CJI so far.
He was in a hurry to give bail to an Islamist Zubair—this man created an atmosphere for Sar Tan Se Juda. Nupur sharma is victim of this Jihadi.
Honourable Madam President @rashtrapatibhvn
You must do something as India cannot
1/2 https://t.co/83A9VYtjNS— LegendaryMusashi (@LegendMusashi) May 8, 2023
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