YouTube LLC on Friday, April 12, 2024 informed the Madras High Court of having blocked a video uploaded by Savukku Media Private Limited on its YouTube channel on March 4 accusing popular movie production house Lyca Productions Private Limited of having used money generated from smuggling of drugs.
The submission was made before Justice C.V. Karthikeyan during the hearing of a civil suit filed by the production house demanding damages of ₹1 crore from Savukku Media as well as its promoter ‘Savukku’ Shankar alias A. Shankar for having linked the plaintiff with drug smuggling without any basis.
After recording the oral submission made by a counsel representing YouTube, the judge insisted on putting the submission in writing too by June 13 and extended till then an interim injunction already granted by the court restraining the YouTuber concerned from making further defamatory allegations.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar had granted the interim injunction on March 19 restraining Savukku Media from making/publishing any derogatory/defamatory imputations against Lyca Productions either directly or by innuendos in any manner whatsoever other than by following due process of law.
Along with the suit, the production house had filed three interim relief applications seeking a direction to the YouTuber to remove the offending video from his channel, an injunction restraining him from making further allegations and a direction to YouTube LLC to deposit the revenue generated out of the video in the court.
When the suit and the applications were listed for the first time before Justice Kumar last month, he had restrained the YouTuber from making further defamatory allegations and directed YouTube LLC to deposit the revenue generated out of the offending video to the credit of the civil suit.
However, on Friday, the counsel for YouTube LLC told Justice Karthikeyan that there was some difficulty in complying with the order passed in the garnishee application taken out by the production house for depositing the revenue in court and that he required time to file a counter affidavit to that application.
Accepting his submission, the judge directed YouTube LLC to put everything that it had to say, including the fact of the offending video having been blocked, in writing and adjourned the suit as well as the applications for further hearing to June 13.
