Madras HC

The Madras High Court has directed Ananda Vikatan Productions Private Limited to remove the caricature depicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi shackled in chains during a meeting with United States President Donald Trump and inform the same to the union government. On receipt of the information, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shall unblock the Ananda Vikatan website, said Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy. The judge passed the interim order on Thursday on a petition filed by Ananda Vikatan Productions Private Limited and Ananda Vikatan Publishers Private Limited, challenging an order of the I&B Ministry, dated February 25, 2025, blocking the website and sought a consequential direction to the Ministry to restore public access to the website. When the case came up for hearing, senior counsel Vijay Narayan, appearing for Ananda Vikatan submitted that the caricature depicting the leaders will not affect the integrity and sovereignty of India. It was freedom of ...

Justice Ilanthiraiyan of Madras HC cited the Press Council Act, noting that the source of information reported by journalists is protected under Sec 15(2), which safeguards privileged communication

The incident, which took place on December 23, involved the sexual assault of a 19-year-old engineering student on the university campus

In a relief to former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Madras High Court restoring a disproportionate assets (DA) case against him and his family members. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti issued notice to the Tamil Nadu police and others on a plea filed by Panneerselvam. "In the present matter concerned, the challenge is to the impugned order of single judge of the High Court judicature at Madras exercising powers of suo motu criminal revision, under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. Issue notice," the bench directed. In the meantime, the operation of the judgment was stayed by the top court. The high court, on October 29, set aside a trial court order allowing the prosecution to withdraw the DA case against Panneerselvam and others while discharging the accused. The high court set aside the order of the chief judicial magistrate/special judge, Sivaganga, passed on December 3, .

The Madras High Court has observed that the barriers faced by persons with disabilities go beyond just physical accessibility issues, extending to deep rooted prejudice, stereotypes and misconcepts that pervaded many aspects of the society. Justice N Anand Venkatesh made the observation in a recent order while allowing a petition from B Vidyasagar, Assistant Engineer, Tamil Nadu Housing Board, a disabled person, seeking a direction to the authorities not to insist him to produce the certificate of passing the Tamil Language Test in the light of a G.O dated May 23, 2022 and to grant pending increments and promotion. The judge said from education and employment to health care and public services, persons with disabilities often face significant obstinance that hinder their full participation and inclusion. In view of the same, a Constitutional Court must develop an understanding of the societal, attitudinal, cultural, institutional, structural, legal and environmental barriers that ...

The Supreme Court also recommended a shift in terminology from 'child pornography' to 'child sexually abusive and exploitative material'

The dispute stems from a home loan taken by the Madras High Court judge for a partially constructed property that was later demolished

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Madras High Court directive to YouTuber Felix Jerald to close down his channel "RedPix 24x7" as one of the bail conditions. Jerald had been arrested for hosting an "objectionable" interview of another YouTuber Savukku Shankar on his YouTube channel. In the interview, Shankar made certain comments against Madras High Court judges and women police officers of the state. The high court, which granted bail to both YouTubers, had asked Jerald to close down his channel as one of the conditions. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued a notice to the state government and stayed the particular direction on closure of the channel. It, however, asked him to comply with other bail conditions. "You are making scurrilous allegations against the judiciary and all women IPS officers. Why do you host such interviews?" the CJI asked. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the YouTuber,

Manickavel was alleged to have falsely implicated former deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kader Batcha in an idol theft case

A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Madras High Court to strike down the Tamil Nadu government order providing Rs 10 lakh compensation to all the victims of the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy. When the PIL filed by Mohamed Ghouse came up for hearing on Friday, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shafiq orally said the compensation amount was on the higher side and posted after two weeks, further hearing of the case. The victims were not freedom fighters or social activists who have lost their lives for the cause of the general public or for the sake of the society and had committed an illegal act by consuming spurious liquor, he submitted. According to Ghouse, consuming illicit liquor was an illegal act. The state need not have pity on those who consumed illicit liquor and thereby committed an illegal act and consequently succumbed to such an act. He said solatium should be given only to the victims of accidents and not to th

Death toll rises to 47 and 118 people remain hospitalised in hooch tragedy in the Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu

Senthil Balaji was arrested in June 2023 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a probe linked to alleged cash-for-jobs scam when he was a minister in an earlier AIADMK regime

'The temple is not a picnic spot or tourist spot, said the Madras High Court

The court has, however, asked Google not to delist the startups' mobile applications for three weeks

Tech companies raised concerns over Google's new service fee, which ranged between 11-26% for using third-party billing systems

Cognizant, in December last year, sought an interim stay on all recovery proceedings against it and offered to pay the base amount of Rs 1,500 crore in cash

The Madras high court on Friday directed the Ootacamund Gymkhana Club to pay lease rent arrears of Rs 31.17 crore to the government within a month. The Tamil Nadu government has leased out 5.47 acres to promote Sports and Golf activities at Udhagamandalam town in Nilgiris district. Justice S M Subramaniam made it clear if petitioner club did not pay the arrears, then the authorities are directed to immediately evict them and take possession of the Government land and utilise it for the benefit of the public at large, since it is a high value property in the town. The judge further said after evicting the petitioner, the authorities shall initiate all appropriate action to recover the arrears of rent due to the Government by following the procedures as contemplated. Disposing of the petitions filed by Ootacamund Gymkhana Club, challenging the demand notice for payment of arrears of lease rent issued by the Tahsildar, the judge said the District Collector, Nilgiris rejected the requ

Startups allege tech giant had introduced new billing system to circumvent Competition Commission of India's order

The High Court extended interim injunction that barred Google from delisting start-ups that have filed petitions against it from company's Play Store

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea challenging the appointment of lawyer L Victoria Gowri as a judge of the Madras High Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate Raju Ramachandran that the plea needed urgent hearing. He pleaded it was an urgent petition by senior lawyers of Madras. "They are praying for interim relief. I would request you to take it at the earliest," the senior lawyer said. The bench, which initially agreed to list the plea for hearing on February 13, later said it will hear it on February 10. The proposal to elevate the woman lawyer, who was representing the Centre before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, later reportedly became controversial after reports emerged about her alleged affiliation to the BJP. Some statements of the lawyer, who was proposed for the judgeship, about Muslims and Christians have purportedly surfaced in the pub