Madras High Court restrains YouTuber Maridhas from publishing defamatory claims against Tamil Nadu Minister T.K. Prabhu

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The Madras High Court has restrained YouTuber M. Maridhas from publishing, republishing, broadcasting, uploading, circulating, sharing, transmitting, posting, reposting, or disseminating the specific allegations and imputations that Tamil Nadu Minister for Natural Resources T.K. Prabhu has challenged in a defamation suit filed by him seeking damages of ₹1 crore for the harm caused to his reputation.

Justice Hemant Chandangoudar granted the ex parte interim injunction until the next date of hearing and directed the Registry to list the applications, filed along with the suit, on November 17, 2026. He made it clear that the injunction shall be confined to the allegations forming the subject matter of the suit and shall not extend to lawful criticism, fair comment, or other speech protected by law.

The judge also directed YouTube, as well as X Corp, to take down, disable access to, or otherwise remove from public view the specific posts, tweets, videos, and other content that the Minister had listed in the affidavit filed in support of his applications for an interim injunction. He said that the interim direction would be confined to the content specifically identified by the applicant and would remain in force until the next date of hearing.

The reliefs were granted after the court heard the arguments advanced by senior counsel P.H. Arvindh Pandian and A.K. Sriram, who were assisted by advocate Vikram Veerasamy, appearing for the Minister. The counsel said that the Minister, a dentist by qualification, was a “respected” figure. However, they said, the YouTuber had been making false, baseless, and defamatory imputations of corruption and illegality against him.

The court was told that the wide circulation and reach of the YouTuber’s publications had materially aggravated the injury caused to the plaintiff’s reputation and standing as a Minister and public representative. The counsel complained that the defendant had also used truncated, isolated, and unverified screenshots of media reports in his social media posts to falsely lend credibility to the allegations.

“The publication is not a bona fide comment or criticism but a specific imputation of corrupt financial conduct, presented as fact, and is calculated to portray the plaintiff as a corrupt Minister who uses his office for personal and political enrichment. The allegations being wholly untrue and unsupported by any lawful or credible material, the publications are manifestly defamatory,” the counsel argued.

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