Some YouTube channels are turning out to be a menace to society: Madras High Court

Justice K. Kumaresh Babu of Madras High Court criticizes YouTube channels for derogatory content, calls for government intervention.

Some YouTube channels are turning out to be a menace to the society by publishing derogatory content just to increase their subscription and it is high time, the government steps in to control such undesirable activities, said Justice K. Kumaresh Babu of the Madras High Court on Thursday.

The oral observations were made while hearing an anticipatory bail petition filed by G. Felix Gerald of RedPix YouTube channel in a case booked against him and ‘Savukku’ Shankar under various provisions of Indian Penal Code and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act of 1988.

Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) E. Raj Thilak told the court that the petitioner had interviewed ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar recently and thereby “facilitated” the latter to make derogatory statements against women police personnel thereby lowering the morale of the entire police force.

Hence, the Coimbatore cyber crime cell had registered a case against both of them and arrested Shankar, who had been arrayed as the first accused, on May 4. Though the present petitioner had been summoned for an inquiry, he had so far not appeared before the investigating officer, the APP complained.

When the petitioner’s counsel stated that his client had been a journalist for the last 25 years, the judge said, the petitioner should have been arrayed as the first accused in the case because it was he who had prompted the interviewee to make derogatory statements against women.

“Is this what you even call as an interview?” the judge wondered and said, the petitioner would have either posed the question knowing well that the interviewee would answer it in a particular way, or he would have let the interviewee make derogatory statements and encouraged it.

When the judge wanted to know if the anticipatory bail petitioner could be ordered to appear for inquiry before the investigating officer on condition that no coercive steps should be taken against him, the APP replied that it would amount to granting anticipatory bail indirectly.