Tamil Nadu accuses YouTuber Manish Kashyap of spreading communal hatred with doctored videos in Supreme Court

On Friday, the State of Tamil Nadu informed the Supreme Court of India that Youtuber Manish Kashyap had facilitated fabrication of videos and utilized them to spread communal hatred. This was in response to an order passed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha seeking a response as to why the National Security Act (NSA) had been invoked against Kashyap.

The State government’s reply stated that neither the First Information Reports (FIRs) nor the NSA charge could be quashed since Kashyap had doctored videos and used them to falsely claim that migrants were being beaten up and killed in Tamil Nadu. Additionally, it was argued that when he visited Tamil Nadu, he put rhetorical questions to migrants with the intention of spreading disharmony and perpetuating hatred.

Kashyap had filed a plea seeking to club all the FIRs against him in Bihar and Tamil Nadu, as well as interim anticipatory bail. He is currently in custody of the Tamil Nadu Police for sharing a fake video about the alleged attack on migrant workers from Bihar.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had sought responses from the Central government and the States of Bihar and Tamil Nadu on the plea. The Court had also allowed Kashyap to amend his plea to challenge the invocation of the NSA and indicated its inclination to transfer all the cases to Bihar.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, argued that Kashyap had 60 lakh followers and had uploaded completely fake videos online. He further submitted that Kashyap had gone to Tamil Nadu and fabricated information.

The Court then issued notice on quashing of prosecution and directed that Kashyap remain in Madurai Central Jail until the next hearing. It also stated that all the cases would be transferred to Bihar.