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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the condition set by the Madras High Court that in order to grant bail to YouTuber Felix Jerald, he was required to shut down his YouTube channel, "RedPix 24x7'.

The closure of his channel was in response to alleged scandalous remarks about women police officers made by 'Savukku' Shankar in an interview that was uploaded on his channel. Jerald was subsequently arrested by the cybercrime police in Coimbatore.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, along with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, while questioning the content of the interviews hosted on Felix Jerald's YouTube channel, remarked that ''as condition of the grant of bail, you were told to shut down the channel; why do you hold such scurrilous interviews against the judiciary and IPS officers?''

To this, Senior Advocate Gopal Shankaranarayanan, appearing for Jerald, acknowledged that the remarks against the women officers should not have been made and Jerald should not have hosted such an interview. However, he told the court that Jerald's YouTube channel, which has 2.6 million subscribers and functions as a news platform, has been operating since 2014.

Taking this into consideration, the bench granted interim relief to Jerald and issued notice to the State of Tamil Nadu in his plea challenging the condition imposed by the high court. The court, however, said that Jerald shall comply with all other bail conditions.

Background

On July 31, the Madras High Court had granted bail to G Felix Jerald, owner of  RedPix YouTube channel.

The court granted bail to Jerald on payment of Rs 10,000 bail with two sureties. Several conditions were imposed on Jerald, including closing his YouTube channel "RED PIX 24 X 7" and filing an affidavit with the court undertaking not to engage in similar activities in the future. Jerald was also barred from giving interviews regarding the case until the trial was completed.

Another case was filed against Jerald following an interview with one Geetha, who claimed to be an Advocate, Industrialist, and Educationalist wherein she allegedly made highly derogatory and defamatory allegations against politicians, retired judges, sitting judges, and members of the legal profession.

In May this year, Jerald was arrested and remanded to judicial custody for offences under Sections 294(b), 353, 509 IPC, Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002, and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Case Title: FELIX JERALD VAIRAWAN A.S Versus STATE REP. BY THE INSPECTOR OF POLICE