Supreme Court Rebukes Five Comedians, Including Samay Raina, Ordering Public Apology

Supreme Court reprimands five stand-up comedians, including Samay Raina, instructing them to issue an unconditional public apology on their YouTube channels and other social media platforms.

The Supreme Court on Monday reprimanded stand-up comedians Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Singh Ghai, Nishant Jagdish Tanwar, and Sonali Thakkar (also known as Sonali Aditya Desai) for allegedly making insensitive remarks against people with disabilities. The court directed the comedians to issue an unconditional public apology on their YouTube Channels and other Social Media platforms. This order came during the hearing of a petition filed by SMA Cure Foundation, which accused the comedians of making fun of people with disabilities.

Making fun of others is not humorous

The bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi observed that humour is a part of life, but it becomes wrong when it hurts the sentiments of others, especially a community. Justice Bagchi remarked, “Humour is acceptable when you laugh at yourself, but making fun of others, especially targeting vulnerable communities, is wrong. Today's so-called influencers are commercialising their speech, which can hurt the dignity of the community.”

Court issues a warning

The court also warned that if such acts were repeated in the future, the comedians could face a fine. Justice Kant said, “The degree of repentance should exceed the degree of the offence.” The court also directed the central government to formulate guidelines to regulate such content on social media, stating that these guidelines should be made keeping in mind the views of all stakeholders.

Decision on fine or other penalty at the next hearing

Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the petitioner, informed that the comedians have apologised in court and shown “better understanding”. She suggested that these influencers use their platforms to raise awareness about the rights of people with disabilities. The court gave time to the comedians to consider this suggestion and said that a decision on the fine or other penalty would be taken at the next hearing.

Hearing of Ranveer Allahbadia case

Simultaneously, the court also heard the petitions of YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia and Aashish Chanchlani, who were seeking to club together the FIRs filed against them in connection with a controversy related to Samay Raina's show “India’s Got Latent”. The court took a serious view of the matter, stating that the right to freedom (Article 19) cannot be allowed to override the right to dignity and life (Article 21).