Tamil Nadu: Why invoke NSA against YouTuber, Supreme Court asks Tamil Nadu government | India News
“Mr. Sibal, what is this NSA?… Why take revenge on this man?” CJI DY Chandrachud asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the TN government.
Senior lawyer Siddhartha Daverepresent Kashyapsubmitted in front of a bench consisting of CJI and justice P.S. Narasimha that the NSA had been invoked against his client and added that there were six FIRs in Tamil Nadu and three in Bihar registered against him.
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SC directs Tamil Nadu government not to remove YouTuber Manish Kashyap from Madurai Central Prison
The Chief Justice wondered why the state had invoked the NSA against Kashyap in this matter. Sibal said he made fake videos claiming that migrant workers from Bihar were being attacked in TN. Bench said it tends to transfer FIRs registered against the petitioner in TN to Bihar.
Opposing the transfer of FIR, Sibal said Kashyap has 60k followers and he is a politician, not a journalist, also running for election. He said Kashyap did interviews in the southern state, while also justifying FIR registration in TN.
The Bihar government adviser opposed the transfer of Tamil Nadu FIRs to Bihar and argued that they were different offenses and that Kashyap was a “regular offender”.
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Government ensures safety for migrant workers
The highest court allowed the plaintiff’s lawyer to amend the defense to challenge his detention under the NSA, while also giving notice to the Tamil Nadu and Bihar governments.
The bench said, “In addition to the relief sought under Article 32, the petitioner seeks to challenge the detention order under the NSA. The petitioner is allowed to amend the defense. Give notice of modified prayers…” Dave urged the court to issue instructions that his client should not be transferred out of Madurai prison.
In this regard, the high court asked the TN government not to transfer him from the prison in Madurai and scheduled a further trial of the case on April 28.
On 11 April, the highest court issued notice to the Central, Tamil Nadu and Bihar governments of Kashyap’s plea to seek the club of FIRs that had filed against him.
Sibal has said that this is not a simple matter and that Kashyap has been detained under the National Security Act and is seeking time to respond on the matter.
Earlier this month, Kashyap appeared before the Madurai district court, which detained him for 15 days.
Kashyap sought to join all FIRs registered against him in Tamil Nadu with those in Bihar.
