Madras High Court restrains YouTuber Savukku Shankar from making derogatory videos of Minister V Senthil Balaji

The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued an interim injunction in favour of Tamil Nadu Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise V Senthil Balaji, restraining YouTuber and blogger Savukku Shankar from making derogatory videos and statements against him [V Senthil Balaji v. A Shankar]..Justice Krishnan Ramasamy passed the interim order in a suit filed by the Minister seeking damages and a mandatory injunction, while noting that it prima facie appeared that Shankar had indulged in slander.“In a democratic set up, no one has right to disparage the reputation of another,” the single-judge observed..The Court considered that such imputations against Balaji, who was a political executive, would tarnish his personal and professional reputation in society.“In such view of the matter, it would be appropriate to restrain the respondent/defendant from making further such derogatory videos and statements, by way of interim injunction.”.Pertinently, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in July had initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against Shankar for Tweets making personal attacks on Justice GR Swaminathan.The order was passed by the judge himself in open court, opining that he usually did not pay heed to Shankar's criticism, but his latest tweet had crossed the lakshman rekha. The judge had emphasised that while even strident criticism was permissible, defamatory vilification was not..The application filed by the Minister sought an interim injunction restraining Shankar from circulating the contents of the tweets and videos flagged, on the ground that they were causing damage to his reputation..Balaji stressed that he had been rendering relentless public service at the grass-roots level for the past 25 years for the well-being of the general public and held a good and respectable reputation.He submitted that Shankar was habitually defaming all occupants of constitutional and executive offices, including judges, and used to post derogatory videos and interviews on social media platforms..The Minister also highlighted false allegations made against him including that he was running all the TASMAC Bars in Tamil Nadu, that he received money under the guise of providing government jobs, provided solar power plants on payment of ₹20 lakh per megawatt and more.It was also pointed out that Shankar claimed Balaji had given ₹200 crore to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party for election expenses and likened him to Eknath Shinde..Justice Ramasamy found considerable force in the submissions and allowed the application for interim injunction, while listing the case for further hearing on September 9..Senior Advocate ARL Sundaresan along with Advocate Richardson Wilson represented Balaji..[Read Order]