Latest News
Back
Document:
YouTuber Maridhas Sued at Madras High Court by News 18 and Editor Gunasekaran
YouTuber Maridhas Sued at Madras High Court by News 18 and Editor Gunasekaran
The Madras High Court restrained a Madurai based YouTube vlogger Maridhas from
continuing to display apparently offensive and disparaging videos on his YouTube,
account against TV 18 broadcast Limited and senior Editor M Gunasekaran of its
Tamil News Channel, News 18 Tamil Nadu. Justice C.V Karthikeyan granted the interim
junction, valid till 12th August, following a civil suit preferred jointly by the television company
Mr. Gunasekaran and senior anchor Jeeva Sagapthan seeking damages for one crore fifty lakh
(1.5 crores) from the vlogger. The Hon’ble Judge also restrained him from uploading any new
defamatory or derogatory or in nature to a threat, videos, photographs, message, or graphical
representation against the company.
Mr. Maridhas is a well known and controversial vlogger who posts his videos on YouTube
based in Madurai. In 2018 he also wrote a book “Why I support Narendra Modi”, and has
frequently hit out at DMK with videos such as “Is DMK Influenced by Pakistan and should the
DMK be banned.?”
Network 18 also said in its statement that the vlogger Maridhas has posted several videos on
YouTube that contains false news, baseless allegations, and defamatory remarks relating to not
only to our channel but also the personal lives of our employees. Mr. Maridhas has named
several persons associated with us but also exposed their personal life relationships drawing
false gratuitous and insulting interference from the same. Mr. Maridhas posted videos with his
active propaganda of defaming us and unlawfully interfering with our independence and
functioning. He went to the extent of using forged and fabricated emails to further his
propaganda of spreading false news against our channel and the employees as well.
The First Information Report (FIR) has been registered by one of the editors in which he
complained of a fake email ID in his name to spread fake news. An investigation with Proton
Mail confirmed that an email account in the name of Mr. Sarawagi has been created and deleted
quickly which has been used for sending a fictitious reply. The Chennai police's crime branch
subsequently registered an FIR against Maridhas for multiple offenses under the Indian Penal
Code and the Information Technology Act, including forgery and hacking. The channel then
approached the court with a defamation suit after the Chennai police "failed to act on the
complaint”, Additional then he did not give time to the company to respond he released
another defamatory video on July 7. And the defendant came up with came with another video
on July 10 and displayed a fabricated e-mail allegedly sent to him by the company’s employee
Vinay Sarawagi of Mumbai.
The controversy began when Mr. Maridhas with over Three Lakh Sixty-Four Thousand
subscribers released a video criticizing the News 18 Tamil Nadu channel. Vlogger claimed
channel’s editor, Gunasekaran, as well as the other editors in Tamil Nadu, were in contact with
the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Dravida Kazhagam (a Periyarist
organization). He also claimed that they are anti-bjp. He also targeted a bureau chief of the
channel, Haseef Mohamed, of having links with a group called Karuppar Koottam. National
secretary of the Bhartiya Janata Party H. Raja tweets demanding action against Haseef
Mohamed for alleged links with the Karuppar Koottam group.
Conclusion
Mr. Krishnan said the defendant had every right to express his views on any matter related to
them but he has no right to defame anyone and make false documents. This is a sheer act of
fault. The Judge also restrained the defendant to upload any video, picture, or any graphical
representation against anyone who is against the law and looking forward oh his reply on a
claim for damages of 1.5 crores. The Hon'ble judge C.V Karthikeyan granted the interim
injunction which is valid till 12th August.
Document:
