The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on April 10, the petition of journalist and Youtuber Manish Kashyap, who was arrested on March 18 for allegedly spreading fake videos of attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu.
The Counsel appearing for Manish requested the Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud sought interim relief under the National Security Act, stating that the Tamil Nadu police had detained the journalist under NSA earlier in the day.
He further said that Manish was brought from Bihar to Tamil Nadu on Thursday on transit remand by a special team of Tamil Nadu police.
The CJI said that it cannot pass any order without reading the matter.
Manish had moved the Supreme Court by way of an application on Wednesday. Filed by his Counsel Dr. A.P. Singh, the petition sought interim bail and clubbing of multiple FIRs, which were registered against him in the States of Bihar and Tamil Nadu for his alleged tweets regarding migrant workers from Bihar working in Tamil Nadu, at one place.
Kashyap was arrested by the Economic Offences unit of Bihar Police on March 18, following his surrender at Jagdishpur police station in West Champaran.
On April 5, a Madurai district court had remanded Kashyap to judicial custody for 15 days. He was sent to the Madurai central prison, where he was to remain till April 19.
Kashyap had shared a video showing migrant labourers from Bihar purportedly being harassed in Tamil Nadu. The video gained a thousand views and an inquiry over the incident was ordered by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had rejected allegations of violence against migrant workers.
A high-level committee of officials from Bihar that probed into the allegations also confirmed that no such attack had taken place in the southern state.