Kashyap posted videos stating that migrant workers from Bihar were subjected to torture in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi.
Quashing the detention order, the judges said that the charges and proceedings under the Information Technology Act, framed against Kashyap would continue.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court quashed the detention order passed against YouTuber Manish Kashyap under the National Security Act (NSA) for circulating fake videos on social media of migrant workers from Bihar being attacked in the state of Tamil Nadu.
A Bench comprising Justices M Sundar and R Sakthivel pointed to the delay in placing representation before the advisory board and added that due procedure was not followed.
The court also noted that the police failed to supply relevant documents about his detention under the NSA, within the prescribed time frame.
Hence, the judges directed that the YouTuber be set at liberty, if he was not needed in connection with any other case.
However, quashing the detention order, the judges said that the charges and proceedings under the Information Technology Act, framed against Kashyap, would continue.
On 8 May, the YouTuber approached the Supreme Court seeking to quash the NSA case slapped against him.
A Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala refused to quash the order.
However, they granted Kashyap the liberty to challenge the invocation of the NSA at an appropriate judicial forum. The apex court also rejected the plea to club all 19 FIRs against him and their transfer to Bihar.
Following this, Kashyap approached the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai.
The right-wing YouTuber Kashyap posted videos on his Twitter handle stating that migrant workers from Bihar were subjected to torture and even hanged to death in Tamil Nadu for speaking in Hindi.
The Madurai Crime Branch police arrested him from Bettiah in Bihar on 18 March.
Eight FIRs were filed against Kashyap in Tamil Nadu. The Bihar police have registered 13 cases against him.
The fake videos he posted were widely shared on social media and the Bihar and Tamil Nadu governments were forced to issue clarifications.
After the videos had gone viral, a four-member team of Bihar officials led by IAS officer Balamurugan visited Tamil Nadu and clarified that there were no such incidents.
Kashyap surrendered before Champaran police in Bihar in early March, while the Economic Offence Unit was in the process of attaching his house.
In the last week of February, several fake videos with false claims that migrants were being attacked and killed in Tamil Nadu were circulated by some social media handles and even by a few Hindi media outlets.
These were amplified on social media by several leaders of the BJP, especially those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Although the Tamil Nadu police, as well as DMK leaders, issued several clarifications and independent fact-checkers called out the fake news, the videos continued to be in circulation, leading to a political slugfest between the BJP and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.
Several mainstream Hindi media outlets, like Punjab Kesari Bihar-Jharkhand, Dainik Bhaskar, ABP Bihar, and Zee Bihar-Jharkhand, aired or printed the news and pushed the videos on social media as well.
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