Overview
- Interim bail runs from December 26, 2025 to March 25, 2026, with a direction to surrender by March 25.
- The order imposes conditions including a ₹1 lakh personal bond, a bar on leaving India, and no contact with witnesses.
- The court questioned repeated prosecutions and prior preventive detention orders, calling the pattern highly unusual and suggestive of misuse of law.
- Judges criticized police conduct toward journalists and said personal liberty cannot be curtailed for dissent, pointing to civil remedies like defamation for baseless claims.
- Shankar was arrested on December 13 over alleged assault and extortion, and the bench flagged the timing of a ₹94,000 GPay transfer preceding the arrest as raising suspicion of a fabricated case, while underlying investigations continue.