Madras high court lambasts YouTuber Savukku Shankar, refuses to recuse from hearing case

CHENNAI: Asserting that the court cannot be ‘blackmailed’ by YouTuber Savukku Shankar, a division bench of the Madras high court refused to recuse from hearing the plea moved by the Tamil Nadu govt seeking to cancel the interim bail granted to Shankar.

“In my 21 years of service as a judge, I never recused itself from hearing a single case because I act as per my conscience,” Justice P Velmurugan, the senior judge of the court comprising Justice M Jothiraman, said on Monday.


“No one can stop you from approaching the Chief Justice and getting the case transferred to some other bench. But if no such order is passed, we will hear the plea on Tuesday at 2.15pm,” the bench said.

The bench made the observation as advocate Purushothaman, counsel for Shankar, wanted the court to recuse itself from hearing the case on the grounds of bias. He pointed out that the court termed Shankar a ‘blackmailer’ during the previous hearing and, therefore, the bench should recuse itself from hearing the case.

As the counsel insisted that the bench recuse itself from hearing the case, the court said, “You cannot threaten this court with your usual blackmailing... We cannot be a silent spectator. You cannot expect an order from this court as you expect. We are going by the system. We are not concerned about any particular individual, caste or other things... We know our limitations... We are currently concerned about the institution and not about any blackmailer... We are least bothered wherever this case is transferred.”

Shankar’s counsel added that the interim bail was not granted solely on medical grounds but also on the grounds of repeated curtailment of Shankar’s personal liberty. We filed an application apprehending bias, he said.

To this, the bench said, “no one can stop you from filing any petition or raising any apprehension. But the court cannot wait for the outcome of such petitions to decide the case on hand.”

“Counsel, who represented Shankar during the last hearing, undertook to file a counter today. But now counsel was changed, and you allege bias without filing the counter,” the court said.

“You cannot just walk out as you do on YouTube,” the bench said.