By Rishi Patodia-
On 31.07.2020, the madras High Court passed an interim injunction order in favour of TV 18 Broadcast Ltd. which owes Tamil Nadu News 18. In the said case Youtuber Maridhas had reportedly accused Tamil Nadu News 18 and its journalist of being Anti – Hindu.
The TV 18 Broadcast Ltd. along with the 2 journalist has initiated a 1.5 crore defamation case against the youtuber Maridha.
To allow the interim injunction pleas sought against Maridhas, Justice CV Karthikeyan reasoned that a prima facie defamation case has been made out by the plaintiffs. The Judge observed further,
“If the defendant wants to raise any social issue, he can always raise them but cannot make statements without verification. Moreover the plaintiff has come forward with a specific allegation that the defendant had created a false E-mail justifying the contents of the videos uploaded by him. This also substantiates the finding that the plaintiffs have come to Court with a prima facie case for grant of interim injunction.”
Apart from this, the Maridhas were ordered that they will not be able to upload any sort of video which defames TV 18 broadcast ltd or any of its journalists.
Youtuber Maridha had tweeeted a screenshot of an email which he claims that he received from the editor of News 18. The screenshotted email stated that the news outlet had found that a “journalist of biased opinion” had infiltrated the organisation and that correctional measures were being taken to ensure unbiased reporting.
Reacting to the mail, the editor informed that he was reported about the fake mail and claimed that he had not sent that mail. Also he said that this mail was deleted/removed as soon as it came in light of everyone.
The court also stated that,
“Defendant has nothing to lose by not putting up further videos. He can always take any defence, but till such defences are examined by the Court, it would only be appropriate that no further videos are put up in public view against the interest of the plaintiffs”.
The interim junction has been has been granted till August 12 i.e. till the next hearing.
Senior Advocate MS Krishnan with Advocates Anirudh Krishnan, S Kaushik Ramaswamy, Adarsh Subramanian, Shiva K and Advaidh Neelakantan appeared for the plaintiffs.
The hearing was heard by single judge bench of Madras High Court by Justice C. V. Karthikeyan.