Supreme Court Defends YouTuber's Right To Criticise Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, Restores Bail In Defamation Case

The Supreme Court has reinstated the bail granted to a YouTuber who allegedly made derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, emphasising that not everyone who makes allegations on social media can be jailed.

A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that there was no evidence to suggest that A Duraimurugan Sattai had misused the liberty granted to him as per report by NDTV.

During the hearing, Justice Oka raised a significant question, addressing Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who represented the State, stating, "If before elections, we start putting behind bars everyone who makes allegations on YouTube, imagine how many will be jailed?"

The court also rejected the request to impose a condition on Sattai to refrain from making scandalous remarks while on bail.

Justice Oka challenged Mukul Rohatgi, asking who would determine whether a statement is scandalous or not.

The case originated from Sattai's challenge to a Madras High Court order that had revoked his bail.

The high court had noted that shortly after giving an undertaking before the court, based on which he was granted relief, Sattai had engaged in further offenses by making derogatory remarks against the Tamil Nadu chief minister.

Sattai sought justice and approached the Supreme Court, which issued a notice on his plea in July 2022. The top court continued the bail granted to him in August 2021. Consequently, Sattai remained on bail for more than 2.5 years.

Supporting the state's case, Mukul Rohatgi highlighted two FIRs registered against Sattai in December 2022 and March 2023.

The ruling comes just days ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, voting for which will be held across seven phases starting 19 April. The results will be declared on 4 June.

Earlier, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also conducted searches at the residence of Sattai and other Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) functionaries for their alleged links with LTTE.