Chennai: The Chennai High Court has ordered a ban on media outlets and social media platforms from releasing videos of the girls involved in the Gem Veeramani case under any circumstances.
A case was filed in the High Court on behalf of the Chennai-based Thulir Foundation, seeking action against media outlets that published videos of the girls affected in the Gem Veeramani case.
It was through a pen drive obtained in 2025 that these incidents of sexual violence against girls came to light. By publishing video footage of the affected girls, some media outlets have created a major threat not only to those girls but also to the privacy and safety of other girls. Some people are blatantly violating individual rights in the name of debate on television. Therefore, it should be ordered that strict legal action be taken against those who identify girls. In addition, a ban should be imposed on all media outlets from publishing videos related to girls, it was demanded.
This case came up for hearing yesterday before Judge V. Latchumi Narayanan. Appearing for the police, State Public Prosecutor John Sathyan said, “Letters have been sent to companies including Google and Meta, requesting them to block the videos and social media pages related to this matter. An investigation is under way into the release of the girls’ videos.”
Following that, the judge said, “Without understanding the seriousness of this matter, social media and the media are acting. Because of this, no one who has been affected will come forward boldly to file a complaint. During the Mumbai attack incident, because the police’s actions were broadcast live, the terrorists changed their approach and acted differently. Press freedom does not mean the right to debate under the name of media investigation,” he said.
Then the judge barred the media and social media from releasing the videos of the girls involved in the case under any circumstances. He also ordered that the police provide a weekly press note on the progress of the case.
He further directed the Central and state governments, as well as the media organizations that released the videos, to respond, and adjourned the hearing to Sept. 30.
Petition seeking a CBI investigation
Senior advocate N.L. Raja made a plea yesterday morning before a bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arulmurugan in the Madras High Court, seeking that the case related to Gem Veeramani be transferred to the CBI.
Then he said, “In this case, the videos of the girls involved were deliberately leaked. The police took action against the accused belatedly. The police have filed a report in the POCSO special court requesting that the case itself be closed. Crores of rupees have changed hands to cover up the crime. Many more facts have not yet come out. Therefore, we have filed a petition on behalf of lawyer Rajasekar seeking to transfer this case to a CBI investigation. So this petition should be taken up for hearing as an urgent matter,” he said.
Following this, the judges said that the Tamil Nadu government has formed a special investigation team to probe this case. In the current situation, the Tamil Nadu police should continue the investigation. They said the petition related to this will be taken up for hearing. Meanwhile, a person named Varahi has also filed a petition in the High Court seeking to transfer the Gem Veeramani case to the CBI.
Judicial custody extended till Oct. 9: With Gem Veeramani’s judicial custody ending yesterday, Chennai POCSO Special Court Judge S. Padma has ordered that his judicial custody be extended until Oct. 9. For this, Veeramani was produced before the judge via video conference from prison.