To enjoy additional benefits
CONNECT WITH US
March 18, 2024 12:29 pm | Updated 10:27 pm IST – CHENNAI
YouTuber ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The Madras High Court on Monday, March 18, ordered notice to ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar of Savukku Media and directed him to submit a detailed explanation, within four weeks, to a contempt of court petition filed against him by real estate firm G Square Realtors Private Limited.
Justice K. Kumaresh Babu sought the explanation, in the form of a counter affidavit, after senior counsel E. Omprakash, representing the realtor, accused the alleged contemnor of having wilfully violated the judge’s June 26, 2023 order with respect to charges levelled by him against the firm
The realtor had initially filed a civil suit against the contemnor in 2022 accusing him of throwing wild allegations on social media to gain cheap publicity and to make a living out of such sensational and false news. It claimed to have suffered huge financial loss because of such false propaganda.
Stating that as many as 28 property bookings worth ₹15.16 crore had got cancelled due to his statements against the firm on the social media, the realtor had obtained an interim injunction on September 8, 2022 restraining the contemnor from making defamatory statements against the firm.
Subsequently, when the contemnor filed an application in 2023 to vacate the injunction, Justice Babu, prima facie, found the applicant to have made at least a couple of statements recklessly without proper verification of facts and without attempting to know the truth.
Nevertheless, he modified the 2022 injunction on June 26, 2023 and made it clear that the applicant should not publish any statement against G Square Realtors Private Limited without sending an e-mail to it in connection with it and waiting for the firm’s response for 72 hours.
The judge had stated further that if the statements to be made were based solely upon public records, including court records, then the applicant would be at liberty to make a fair comment or criticism on the basis of those materials available in the public domain.
However, Mr. Omprakash complained to the court on Monday that the contemnor had gone about making reckless allegations against the realtor once again without sending any e-mail as directed by the court, and therefore, this action amounted to wilful disobedience of court orders.
The senior counsel recalled that the realtor had filed an application last year complaining about disobedience of the September 8, 2022 court order. The court had on June 26, 2023 found him guilty of impinging upon the majesty of the court and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh to be paid to Tamil Nadu State Legal Services Authority.
Producing a receipt before the court, the senior counsel said, interestingly the cost was paid in the name of his counsel. He also stated that the contemnor had filed an affidavit in November 2023 tendering unconditional apology for having made statements without proper verification.
Despite all this, the contemnor had been continuing to make wild allegations against the firm in the social media without sending e-mails, soliciting its response, as it had been ordered by the court, he complained and urged the judge to punish him for wilful disobedience of the court order.
Tamil Nadu / court administration / media / real estate
BACK TO TOP
Terms & conditions | Institutional Subscriber
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
