Some YouTube channels are turning out to be a menace to society, says High Court
Some YouTube channels are turning out to be a menace to society by publishing derogatory content simply to increase their subscription, and it is high time the government stepped in to control such undesirable activities, Justice K. Kumaresh Babu of the Madras High Court said on Thursday.
He made the observation while hearing an anticipatory bail petition filed by G. Felix Gerald of RedPix, a YouTube channel, in a case filed against him and ‘Savukku’ Shankar under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act, 1988.
Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) E. Raj Thilak told the court that the petitioner had interviewed Mr. Shankar recently, and “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 Mr. Shankar, who had been arrayed as the first accused, on May 4.
Yet to appear
Though the current petitioner had been summoned for an inquiry, he had not appeared before the investigating officer so far, the APP said.
When the petitioner’s counsel stated that his client had been a journalist for the past 25 years, the judge said that 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 an interview,” the judge asked, and added that the petitioner would have either posed the question, knowing that the interviewee would answer it in a particular way, or he would have let the interviewee make derogatory statements and encouraged the act.
When the judge wanted to know if the anticipatory bail petitioner could be ordered to appear for an inquiry before the investigating officer on the condition that no coercive steps should be taken against him, the APP replied that it would amount to granting anticipatory bail indirectly.
Accepting his request, the judge adjourned the hearing on the advance bail plea by a week.