Madras HC’s Bail Condition to Shut Down YouTube Channel of YouTuber Felix Jerald, Extraneous to the Issue and Unnecessary: Supreme Court

Today (September 27, 2024), the Supreme Court (SC) bench set aside a bail condition imposed by the Madras High Court (HC) that YouTuber Felix Jerald should shut down his YouTube channel ‘RedPix 24x7’. YouTuber Felix Jerald was arrested for airing an interview with another YouTuber Savukku Shankar on his channel which contained derogatory remarks against the Madras HC judges and women police officers. He, along with Savukku Shankar, is facing cases registered under Section 294(b) and Section 506(1) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. Today, while setting aside the bail condition, the bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra observed that such a bail condition was extraneous to the issue and was unnecessary. Earlier on September 06, the SC bench stayed the HC’s condition which was confirmed by the bench today.

During the proceedings on September 06, the bench questioned the petitioner for allowing the publication of such scandalous interviews. CJI asked, “You are making scurrilous allegations against the judiciary and all women IPS officers...why do you host such interviews.” Senior Advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan who appeared for Felix Jerald acknowledged the inappropriateness of the aired interview but argued against the harshness of shutting down Jerald’s YouTube channel with 2.4 million subscribers. To support the contention, SA Sankarnarayanan referred to the top court’s order in the Mohammed Zubai case, in which the apex court refused to impose a bail condition that the petitioner should not tweet.