The Supreme Court of India has directed stand-up comedians Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Nishant Jagdish Tanwar, and Sonali Thakkar (also known as Sonali Aditya Desai) to tender an unconditional apology for making insensitive remarks against persons with disabilities.
The court has instructed the comedians to issue their apology publicly on their YouTube channels and other platforms where the remarks were made, ensuring the message reaches their audiences effectively.
Guidelines to be formulated for social media
Following Monday’s hearing, the Supreme Court also called on the government to formulate guidelines for social media platforms to prevent content that ridicules or offends vulnerable groups, including disabled persons, women, children, and senior citizens.
The five influencers were summoned after the court took strong objection to offensive and insensitive comments made during their digital shows. During the May hearing, the bench led by Justice Surya Kant emphasised the limits of free speech, stating: “There are people who seek fundamental right of free speech. If there is such freedom, then we will curtail any speech which demeans another community.”
CURE SMA Foundation filed petition against offensive content
The petition against the influencers was filed by the CURE SMA Foundation of India, highlighting insensitive jokes directed at individuals with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and other disabilities. The foundation presented video evidence showing the influencers mocking persons with disabilities on their shows.
“These videos shed light on the widespread irresponsible, insensitive and violate dissemination of such online content that contravenes the rights of the persons with disability under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, propels offensive stereotypes and misguided portrayals against them, and detrimentally impacts their societal participation, and fosters insensitivity and inhumanity against them, and as such falls within the reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2),” the petition noted, according to ANI.
This is not the first time Raina has faced criticism from the Supreme Court for controversial remarks. Earlier, he, along with Ranveer Allahbadia, was summoned over comments made on the comedy show 'India's Got Latent'.