New Delhi (PTI) – The Supreme Court on Friday deemed the Madras High Court’s directive for YouTuber Felix Jerald to shut down his channel as a bail condition to be “unwarranted and extraneous.” The top court upheld its previous September 6th decision granting bail to Jerald without this specific condition.
The bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Manoj Misra, confirmed that Jerald has been out on bail since the earlier order. They explicitly stated that the condition requiring him to close his YouTube channel, “RedPix 24×7,” was unjustified and therefore set it aside. However, the other bail conditions will remain in effect.
Jerald was arrested for hosting an “objectionable” interview with fellow YouTuber Savukku Shankar, who was also taken into custody. During the interview, Shankar made derogatory remarks about Madras High Court judges and women police officers in Tamil Nadu. Although both YouTubers were granted bail by the high court, Jerald was initially subjected to the channel closure condition.
The Supreme Court had previously issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government and stayed the channel closure directive. While upholding the other bail conditions, the court questioned Jerald’s rationale for hosting such an interview, considering the defamatory allegations made against the judiciary and women IPS officers.
Jerald’s counsel, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, acknowledged that the interview should not have been aired but emphasized the hardship caused by the channel closure directive, given its substantial subscriber base of 2.4 million.
On September 25, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of co-accused YouTuber Shankar, who had been detained under the Tamil Nadu Goondas Act shortly after his initial release. This decision followed the Tamil Nadu government’s revocation of the detention order based on the advice of an advisory board.
