‘Only viewed film’: Madras High Court grants pre-arrest bail over ‘Jana Nayagan’ movie leak

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 25, 2026 11:20 AM IST The Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to the accused. The Madras High Court has granted anticipatory bail to a man accused of pirating and releasing Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay aka Thalapathy’s movie “Jana Nayagan” on online platforms before the theatrical release. Justice C Kumarappan held that the custody of the accused was not required as the police had already filed the final report in the matter.“The initial allegation against the petitioner is only that he had viewed the illegally released movie, and except for the same, no serious overt act has been attributed to him. In such circumstances, this Court is inclined to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner, subject to certain conditions,” the court stated