The Supreme Court on Monday said it would examine a plea against comedian Samay Raina for allegedly mocking persons with disabilities, including individuals with visual impairment and those suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), during a comedy segment on the YouTube show India’s Got Latent.
Terming the matter “a serious issue”, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked senior advocate Aprajita Singh, representing the NGO Cure SMA Foundation of India, to file a writ petition instead of an interim intervention plea in the ongoing proceedings involving influencer and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia.
The court is already hearing a matter involving Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, who had featured in a controversial episode of India's Got Latent.
On February 18, the apex court granted Allahbadia interim protection from arrest in multiple FIRs related to his remarks, while directing him to submit his passport to the investigating officer at the Nodal Cyber Police Station, Thane.
The NGO Cure SMA Foundation of India alleged that the controversy highlighted critical gaps in legal regulation of online content, especially relating to people with disabilities.
"There was an urgent need for comprehensive guidelines and regulatory measures that explicitly and sufficiently regulate any derogatory, denigrating, ableist and belittling content against the persons with disability, their diseases and their treatment options by various stakeholders, including but not limited to publishers of online curated content, publishers of news and current affairs content, self-styled influencers and content creators, broadcasters, intermediaries, users, and end-users," the NGO stated in its plea.
While clarifying it was not seeking a blanket ban on content related to persons with disabilities, the Foundation emphasised the need for sensitivity and compassion, especially in comedy content.
“This requires maintaining the highest degree of sensitivity and compassion across the channels, however, that becomes a mammoth task when certain individuals, like the comedian, Samay Raina, host a comedy show and make insensitive commentaries on persons such with such condition, the high-costing drugs and the treatment options,” the NGO said in its plea.
It argued that such content diminishes public awareness of serious conditions like SMA and fosters harmful perceptions.
