PIL in Madras High Court seeks Special Bench for quick disposal of cases against journalists, YouTubers

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking the constitution of "special benches" for the quicker disposal of cases against journalists, YouTubers, and activists..On Monday, the petitioner, one S Muralidharan told a Bench of Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq that since 2021, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led government had booked at least 31 journalists and YouTubers on criminal charges. .The petitioner also cited the case of YouTuber Savukku Shankar, who was arrested by the Coimbatore police in May this year following an interview in which he allegedly made derogatory comments against women.Muralidharan, who appeared as a party in person said that the freedom of speech, especially for journalists, must be protected in a democracy."I saw at least 25 police personnel escorting Savukku Shankar to court. He is not a murderer. Why must the police waste its resources? The DMK government has been trying to clamp on any form of dissent ever since it has come to power," he said..The High Court administration, which has been made a respondent party in the case, argued that the petition was not maintainable.The counsel for the High Court argued that the Chief Justice, being master of the roster, alone has the prerogative to fix Benches for hearing any case.The Court's Registrar General (also a party in the case) is only the head of administration and has no role in fixing the roster, he added..The Court then directed the petitioner to submit statistics to prove his claim and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. "Can you give us the statistics on how many cases are pending against Journalists in the High Court? We can take steps to dispose of the cases at the earliest but we can't constitute a special bench for it. You've not placed any materials. If you give us the statistics, we can still do something," the Court said.