Lawfare – Defamation, Others

The Madras High Court recently ordered YouTuber Joe Micheal Praveen to Pay Rs 50 lakh as compensation to AIADMK spokesperson and trans activist Apasara Reddy, for posting defamatory material and videos against her on social media and YouTube. Apsara Reddy informed the Madras High Court that YouTuber Joe Micheal Praveen had made repeated defamatory posts against her.

On January 4, Justice N Sathish Kumar went through multiple such videos and posts that Apsara Reddy had submitted in the Court and noted that they were defamatory and had been posted online without any attempt on Praveen’s part to verify the truth.

Considering the submissions, the Madras High Court noted that the perusal of the entire defamatory statements especially the contents in the videos, which is also extracted in the plaint, the statements are nothing but malicious and defamatory touching upon the privacy of any individual. The court observed that merely because a person has a right to post in YouTube, he cannot cross his limit encroaching upon the privacy of others.