Manish Kashyap, an imprisoned Bihar YouTuber, received a blow on Monday when the Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal against the severe National Security Act (NSA) charges brought against him for allegedly spreading fake videos of migrant laborers being assaulted in Tamil Nadu.
"You have a stable state, the state of Tamil Nadu. Can you circulate anything and create disquiet in the state? We cannot be lending our ears to all this,” Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud's court made the statement.
The panel, which also included justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, did, however, grant Mr. Kashyap the right to dispute the NSA's invocation in a proper judicial forum, preferably the high court.
Additionally, it denied the request to combine all 19 FIRs filed against him and transfer them to Bihar.
“We are not inclined to entertain the plea," the panel stated while rejecting the adamant arguments made by senior advocate Maninder Singh on behalf of Mr. Kashyap, who is now being held in the Madurai jail in Tamil Nadu.
The bench refused to overrule Mr. Kashyap's NSA detention, stating that it was inappropriate for them to be considering such a petition.
According to Mr. Kashyap's lawyer, the accused created the alleged videos for his YouTube channel based on news articles that appeared in particular newspapers.
His lawyer stated that "If this boy has to be in jail, all journalists have to be in jail then." He also suggested that the FIRs be combined and sent to Bihar, the location of the police department's initial complaint.
The attorney representing Bihar objected to the plea and pointed out the specifics of the FIRs filed in the state against Mr. Kashyap.
He claimed that Mr. Kashyap has a history of criminal behavior and is currently facing charges of extortion and attempt to murder.
Representatives for Tamil Nadu, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and attorney Amit Anand Tiwari, commented that the accused may apply to the Madras High Court for the clubbing of the FIRs.
"He is not a journalist and was a politician who has contested the elections in Bihar," Mr. Sibal said. The top court disagreed with Kashyap's lawyer's claims that the use of the NSA had been invalidated in many instances.
After turning himself in at the Jagdishpur police station on March 18, Mr. Kashyap was taken into custody in Bihar. He was then transported to Tamil Nadu, where the NSA was used to bring charges against him.
In response to Mr. Kashyap's appeal, the Tamil Nadu government stated that the numerous FIRs against him that have been filed in the state were not driven by politics but rather because he upset "public order and national integrity" by spreading fake videos of migrant workers being attacked in the southern state.
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