The Supreme Court of India has ordered stand-up comedian Samay Raina and four other influencers to issue a public apology for mocking and disrespecting people with disabilities in their podcasts and shows.
Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakur, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar faced the order along with Samay Raina.
The court also asked the government to establish guidelines for social media to prohibit the restriction of offensive remarks on children, women, people with disabilities, and senior citizens during the Monday hearing.
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The petition against these comedians was filed by CURE SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) Foundation of India. The foundation criticized the remarks made in the name of comedy, citing ‘hate speech’ with video evidence which shows the insensitive jokes about people suffering from SMA and other disabilities.
The Supreme Court bench, led by Justice Surya Kant condemned the offensive remarks. The bench firmly quoted, “There are people who seek the fundamental right of free speech. If there is such freedom, then we will curtail any speech which demeans another community.”
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The petition also underlined that such remarks violate the rights of people with disabilities under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and spread harmful stereotypes. These videos shed light on the widespread irresponsible, insensitive and violate dissemination of such online content… and as such falls within the reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2),” the plea stated, as quoted by ANI.
Samay Raina previously faced the wrath of court for making controversial remarks with Ranveer Allahbadia at his show India’s Got Latent.
