The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear YouTuber Manish Kashyap’s pleas challenging his detention under the National Security Act and other cases registered against him in Bihar and Tamil Nadu for spreading fake videos of attacks on migrant workers, reported PTI.
The National Security Act, which allows for detention for up to a year without trial, was invoked against Kashyap last month by the Tamil Nadu Police.
In March, several videos had been shared on social media showing migrant labourers, especially from Bihar, being attacked and even killed in Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu Police and state officials as well as fact-checkers had said that the claims were fake. Nineteen first information reports have been filed against Kashyap in the matter, according to PTI. One of his petitions sought to club all the FIRs and to transfer them to Bihar.
At Monday’s hearing, a bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that the YouTuber had deliberately made false videos.
“You have a stable state, the state of Tamil Nadu,” the chief justice remarked orally, Live Law reported. “You circulate anything to create disquiet...we can’t be be lending our ears to this.”
But Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Kashyap, argued that YouTuber had made the videos based on media reports. Singh added that if his client is booked under the National Security Act, then the journalists of other newspapers who reported about this should also be detained under the law.
The judges refused to hear the pleas but allowed Kashyap to move the High Court to seek relief.
At the last hearing on April 21, the Supreme Court had asked the Tamil Nadu government to explain why it had invoked the National Security Act against Kashyap.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Tamil Nadu government, had said that Kashyap had over six lakh followers on social media and his videos caused widespread alarm and panic among the migrant labour community, reported Live Law.
Besides Kashyap, Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prashant Umrao, Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar, pro-government website OpIndia editor Nupur Sharma and chief executive officer Rahul Roushan have booked for spreading disinformation.
Last month, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain petitions by Sharma and Roushan. It had asked them to approach the Madras High Court instead.
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