Madras High Court bans media in Veermani case, says- There are more important things in life than TRP

This strong comment was made by a judge of Madras High Court on Friday.

The court was hearing a petition seeking to stop television channels from telecasting scenes of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

TRP tells how many viewers the advertisements or programs of a TV channel reached.

Justice V. Lakshminarayanan was hearing the petition of Tulir Charitable Trust. This organization works to prevent sexual exploitation of children and assist in matters related to them.

He strongly criticized some TV channels which had telecasted Sisam on the case related to R Veeramani.

Granite businessman and influential industrialist R. Veeramani (84) was arrested on August 29. Along with him, Shanti (55) and Mahendra Simhan (60) were also arrested as co-accused.

It is alleged that Mahendra Simhan's house was used by Veermani for sexually exploiting children aged between 12 to 15 years. A case has been registered against these three under various sections of POCSO Act and IT Act.

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The BBC tried to contact Veeramani's office. This report will be updated after getting response from there.

Veeramani case has now become a topic of discussion politically also. The reason for this is the alleged delay in investigation. The first complaint in this case was filed on 6 October 2025. Before that, an unknown person had left an envelope containing a pen drive in the office of a local NGO.

The local court had also taken cognizance of this matter a few months ago. This matter has now become a cause of political allegations and counter-allegations.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has raised questions on the previous DMK government during the campaign for the two by-elections to be held on Dharapuram and Madurantakam assembly seats.

These by-elections are being held due to the resignation of two AIADMK MLAs. He had resigned to contest elections from the same constituencies on TVK ticket.

What did the court say?

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The judge agreed with the petitioners' demand that the 'John Doe' doctrine be applied. But along with this he also issued an interim order.

In law, the 'John Doe' doctrine or injunction is a judicial order issued against unknown or unnamed criminals.

The court restrained media houses, other entities, intermediaries and digital platforms from publishing, broadcasting, uploading, sharing, broadcasting or disseminating in any other form any video related to the Veeramani case.

The court's instructions were quite broad.

Justice Lakshminarayanan said that the media institutions and digital platforms which have already uploaded the material related to this case, should immediately remove it.

If the material is not removed, the police have been instructed to get it removed within the next 24 hours.

The next hearing of this case will be on September 30. Before that a compliance report will have to be filed.

Justice Lakshminarayanan said that the investigation is at a very important stage.

"If new controversies or photographs are uploaded on news channels at this time, there is a possibility that other victims may be reluctant to come forward," he said.

He said that they may fear the impact on their lives and may avoid recording their statement.

Justice Lakshminarayanan orally told the court, "Premature publication of these videos will have a negative impact on other victims."

He said that the court gives importance to freedom of expression and the right to disseminate information.

But the court was also reminded of the 2009 Mumbai terror attacks.

He said, "Due to continuous broadcast and coverage in the media, terrorists had become aware of the activities and strategies of law enforcement agencies."

"After this, the terrorists took their own steps in response. Due to this, the very purpose of deployment of security forces was affected."

Justice Lakshminarayanan said, "With every right there is also a responsibility associated with it."

He said, "This responsibility is not only towards the children, but also towards the accused involved in this case."

A team of four senior women police officers will investigate

The court also said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the police will issue a press release every week. Four senior women police officers are included in this SIT formed by DGP Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal.

This SIT has been formed on the lines of the SIT of women police officers formed to investigate the alleged serial rape cases against Prajwal Revanna of Karnataka Police.

Prajwal Revanna is a former MP. He is the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

Coincidentally, Prajwal's case also came to light through a pen drive. Hundreds of such pen drives were thrown in public places.

This SIT was formed when Tamil Nadu Police sent two senior officers on 'compulsory wait' for alleged inaction after the complaint was registered.

One of these officers was of the rank of Additional Director General of Police. Both the police officers were posted at top positions in Chennai City Police.

Hariharan of the Indian Community Welfare Organization (ICWO) told BBC News Hindi, "We received the pen drive in an envelope at 10.30 am on October 6, 2025."

"By 1 pm we had handed it over to the anti-vice police. We took action as per law under Section 19(1) of the POCSO Act."

"It contained explicit videos of child sexual abuse."

"The FIR was registered the next day i.e. on 7 October 2025."

In a surprising development, the police filed a closure report in the trial court in February 2026. The police cited "lack of sufficient evidence" for this.

However, the POCSO court refused to accept this report.

Hariharan said, "We cannot say why, but there was a delay in investigating this case."

According to the order of the High Court, Tulir Charitable Trust's lawyer Deepika Murali told the court that some additional material has come to light in the further investigation.

He said, "Apart from the initial victim, the police have identified several other victims. The police have also recorded their statements."

political allegations and counter-allegations

Two TVK ministers, Aadhav Arjuna and R. Nirmal Kumar accused the previous DMK government of obstructing the investigation in the Veeramani case.

Aadhav even said that the DMK government has different laws for its ministers, party workers and industrialists.

Former Chief Minister MK Stalin replied to this. He also had the Home Department.

"DMK was not forced to save anyone," he said in a brief statement.

However, on Friday, Chief Minister Vijay openly attacked the issue during an election rally in Madurantakam.

He said, "One person kept exploiting girls, but the matter was suppressed. The entire state is asking what is the deal behind this. Stalin sir, please speak on this. We have sent him to jail, but still nothing has been said about the others. These are all little girls."

"If you can't speak about their pain, then what kind of politics are you doing? We know who was supporting Veeramani."

So has the Veeramani case become a political weapon in these two by-elections?

Congress's Praveen Chakraborty and BJP's Khushboo Sundar both do not believe so.

Chakraborty told BBC News Hindi, "It is clear that what happened to these young girls is absolutely disgusting."

"We support every effort to conduct a completely open and impartial investigation into this matter."

"It doesn't matter who is involved, who is not involved, or which party wins."

"This is our stance."

"How can this be a political weapon?"

"Look at the seriousness of the matter."

Khushboo Sundar said, "There are some truths that should be put before the people. I don't know how many years it was kept hidden. I don't think it is a political weapon, because TVK does not need to depend on it."

"They are doing quite well on their own. We all know that the atmosphere in the by-elections is in favor of TVK."

He criticized the huge delay in investigating the case.

He said, "It was only in 2024 that a Congress leader from the DMK alliance spoke on this issue. The DMK remained silent."

"Then in 2025, the person who posted the video said that it is Veeramani. Even then the DMK government did not pay attention to it. When we ask questions to the DMK, they have no answer."

However, Chakraborty looked at the matter from his party's perspective. Congress supports TVK government.

He said, "This is not a matter of by-elections. This is a very serious matter, which seems to have been going on for a long time. We appreciate the efforts of the government and the Chief Minister to form the SIT."

DMK's defense

However, DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said that TVK is making this issue an election issue.

He said, "Ever since Vijay came to power, his focus on everything has been to bash the DMK. He has not fulfilled the promises made during the elections. Every section of the society is protesting. People are angry with Vijay, but he keeps blaming the DMK for everything. He has not done any good for the people of Tamil Nadu."

He said, "But Vijay does not respond to the allegations that we have raised in the Assembly. There have been 10 custodial deaths. Eight murders in a single day and hundreds of POCSO cases have been reported. He has not taken any action in these cases."

Elangovan said, "After coming to power, the two ministers had attended an event with Veeramani and others. Veeramani has no connection with the DMK in any way."