If those who make allegations on YouTube before elections are put behind bars, how many will be jailed? Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday restored the bail granted to YouTuber 'Sattai' Durai Murugan, accused of making a derogatory speech against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in 2021..A Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made it clear that expressing strong views on issues and government functionaries is not a violation of bail conditions."If before elections we start putting behind bars everyone who makes allegations on YouTube, imagine how many will be jailed? And who decides what is scandalous? Look at the bigger picture", the Court remarked during the course of the hearing..The top court said that Murugan did not misuse his liberty by protesting and expressing his views."Leave granted. By the impugned order, the benefit of bail granted to the appellant was cancelled ... this Court continued the bail granted to the appellant on 6th August, 2021 by the High Court. Thus, under the interim order of this Court, the appellant continues to be on bail for more than 2½ years ... the grounds mentioned in the impugned order cannot constitute grounds for cancellation of bail ... Therefore, we set aside the impugned order dated 7th June, 2022 and restore the order of the High Court dated 6th August, 2021. Needless to add that in case of any misuse of the liberty by the appellant, it will be always open for the respondent to apply for cancellation of bail"..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for State of Tamil Nadu..The prosecution had alleged that Murugan and other members of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) party gathered in violation of COVID-19 norms after they were denied permission to stage a protest.During this gathering, Murugan allegedly made derogatory remarks with an intention to breach public peace and tranquillity.The complainant, a member of the DMK, saw the speech of the petitioner and another on a YouTube Channel called Ravana, in which CM Stalin was mocked.After the police registered a case on the basis of this complaint, Murugan was arrested in October 2021..The Madras High Court in November 2021 had granted bail to Murugan. Later, a Division Bench of High Court had cancelled the bail. However, in 2022, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Murugan and he has been out on bail since then.In the instant order, the bench noted that Murugan had not misused his liberty or violated any conditions during the period of interim bail."We do not think that only by expressing his strong views about the demolition of the [Babri] masjid and by demanding release of prisoners, it can be said that the appellant has misused the liberty granted to him ... Strong criticism of the Hon'ble Chief Minister is not a violation of bail order"..Advocates M Yogesh Kanna, Prabu Ramasubramaniyan, Bharthimohan M, Priya R, and Monica Saini appeared for the Youtuber.Senior Additional Advocate General V Krishnamurthy with advocates Sabarish Subramanian, C Kranthi Kumar, Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Naman Dwivedi, Richa Vishwakarma, Aman Prasad, Chandra Bhushan Tiwari and Danish Saifi also appeared for the State of Tamil Nadu..[Read order]