‘Savukku’ Shankar’s case | Madras High Court refuses to grant bail to YouTuber Felix Jerald

Madras High Court denies bail to YouTuber G. Felix Jerald for interview with 'Savukku' Shankar on women police remarks.

The Madras High Court on Monday, June 24, 2024, refused to grant bail to YouTuber G. Felix Jerald in a case booked against him by the Coimbatore cyber crime police for having interviewed ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar who reportedly made certain objectionable remarks about women police personnel in Tamil Nadu.

Justice T.V. Thamilselvi dismissed the bail plea after going through the transcript of the interview, submitted by Additional Public Prosecutor R. Muniyapparaj, and on finding that it was the interviewer’s questions which had “aggravated” the situation and prompted the interviewee to make such remarks.

When the petitioner’s counsel stated that he was a journalist who had just done his job of interviewing a guest and that he could not be held responsible for any of the remarks made by the interviewee, the judge asked: “Shouldn’t journalists also conduct themselves with some dignity?”

Justice Thamilselvi also stated that the YouTuber had the option of editing out the objectionable remarks before publishing the interview on YouTube but he had not done so probably because of the monetary considerations involved in publishing such content on social media.

“Is it for personal gain and monetary considerations, he is conducting such interviews?” the judge asked after the APP submitted that more than 5 lakh viewers had watched the interview on YouTube and it had garnered more than 10,000 likes, damaging the reputation of women police personnel.

The APP also brought it to the notice of the court that the petitioner was facing three other previous criminal cases and that in one of those cases, he had filed an affidavit in court, undertaking not to conduct such interviews in the future. “Yet, he had violated the undertaking,” the law officer complained.

When the judge wanted to know whether any women police personnel had lodged a complaint against the YouTuber, Mr. Muniyapparaj said, the present case registered by the Coimbatore cyber crime police itself was based upon a complaint lodged by a woman sub inspector of police.