SC imposes Rs. 25000 fine on man who accused YouTube of distracting him with obscene ads during exam prep

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka slammed the petitioner, Anand Kishor Choudhary, for filing an “atrocious" petition and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.

The petitioner could have chosen not to watch the advertisements, said the apex court, and slammed him for filing such an atrocious. It noted that such petitions are an utter waste of judicial time.

“One of the most atrocious petitions filed by the petitioner stated that while he was preparing for MP Police exams, he subscribed to YouTube where there were sexual advertisements. He sought notice from YouTub and a ban on nudity in ads and Rs 75 lakh compensation. If you do not like the ad, do not watch it. Why he watched the ad is his prerogative. Such petitions are an utter waste of judicial time," the bench said.

Choudhary moved the apex court seeking Rs 75 lakh compensation from Google-owned streaming platform YouTube and alleged that he was distracted by the sexual content in advertisements on the platform while he was preparing for the exam and was hence unable to pass a Madhya Pradesh police recruitment examination.

He also sought a blanket ban on nudity on social media platforms.

Initially, the bench was imposing a fine of Rs.1 lakh on the petitioner, however, he apologised to the court, claiming his parents are labourers and sought to withdraw the petition.

To this, Justice Kaul said, “Aap ko laagta hain ki publicity ke liye jab chahe idhar aa sakte ho. Cost kam kar dunga lekin maaf nahi karuna (You think you can come to this court whenever you want publicity. I will reduce the costs but will not forgive you).”

The bench then reduced the costs to Rs 25,000 and asked him to deposit it with the Supreme Court's Mediation Centre.

As the petitioner told the bench that he is unemployed to which Justice Kaul said, “Rozgaar nahi hain toh hum recovery karenge (If you are unemployed, recovery will be done if you don't pay).”