The Supreme Court on Monday ordered five social media influencers, including India's Got Latent host Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahabadia, to issue a public apology for mocking disabled persons in the show. In its directive, the top court observed that freedom of speech and expression doesn't apply to commercial speech that hurts the sentiments of the other community.
The court has also asked the Central Government to frame guidelines for social media to curb speeches that offend or ridicule children, women, senior citizens, and the disabled.
Apart from the apology, SC will also impose penalties on all the social media influencers present in the show for targeting people with disabilities. As reported by PTI, "Guidelines for social media regulations shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction but based on broad parameters having views of stakeholders."
The counsel for the respondents undertook that each of the influencers would display an apology on their YouTube channels and podcasts, along with affidavits confirming compliance. Their personal appearance was dispensed with for now, provided they adhered to this undertaking, the Court said.
The bench led by Justice Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said, "Humor is well taken and is a part of life. We laugh at ourselves. But when we start laughing at others and create a breach of sensibility...on a community plane, when humour is generated, it becomes problematic. And this is what so-called influencers of today should bear in mind. They are commercializing speech. The community at large should not be utilized to hurt the sentiments of certain sections. It's not only freedom of speech, it's commercial speech."
During the earlier hearing, Justice Kant had emphasized to protect dignity. He said, "What we are doing is for posterity. You have to ensure that not a single word is misused by anyone...A framework must be there so that the dignity of anyone is not violated."
The court had warned that mocking the disabled in the guise of free speech cannot be allowed. It said that the influencers' actions are "damaging" and "demoralising".
Samay Raina and Ranveer Allahabadia were booked by the Maharashtra and Assam Police for their remarks on the former's YouTube show India's Got Latent. Their comments were called "vulgar" and evidence of a "dirty mind which put society to shame." Allahabadia was later granted interim protection from arrest. Following the incident, a petition was filed by the NGO Cure SMA Foundation of India.