The Supreme Court on Monday restored bail to a YouTuber Sattai Duraimurugan who was accused of making derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in his video. While upholding bail to him the top court said that "if before elections, we start putting behind bars everyone who makes allegations on YouTube, imagine how many will be jailed?"
The YouTuber had moved the apex court after the high court cancelled the interim bail granted to him.
"This Court continued the interim bail earlier; he continues to be on bail for 2.5 years. We do not think that by protesting and expressing views he can be said to have misused his liberty," the top court said while setting aside the high court order.
"All the same, we do not find grounds to cancel bail. We thus quash the High Court order cancelling bail, and restore the earlier order granting bail. Needless to say cancellation of bail can be applied for if deemed fit." the bench ruled.
Duraimurugan was arrested by the police for allegedly making derogatory remarks against MK Stalin and others. Earlier, the Madras High Court had allowed bail to him on the undertaking that he would not make derogatory remarks against anyone. However, later in June 2022, the high court cancelled his bail after the Tamil Nadu government moved court seeking cancellation of bail on the ground that even after filing an undertaking the accused continued to make derogatory remarks against the CM Stalin.
The high court while cancelling his bail noted that the social media intermediaries should ensure that the content uploaded on their platform complies with their policies. The state government had told the high court that YouTube was not removing the video without a copy of an FIR and court order.
A bench of Justice B Pugalendhi of the Madras High Court observed that if the social media intermediaries are not removing the content even when the offensive content is flagged, the authorities shall book them as well.