A PIL has been filed before the Madras High Court seeking the constitution of special benches for quicker disposal of cases against journalists, YouTubers, and activists, Bar and Bench reported.

The petitioner, one S Muralidharan, reportedly told a bench of Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq on Monday that the DMK-led government had booked at least 31 journalists and YouTubers on criminal charges since 2021.

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. The court’s registrar general is only the head of administration and has no role in fixing the roster, he said.

The court then directed the petitioner to submit statistics to prove his claim and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

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