‘Took court for a ride’: SC raps Samay; imposes Rs 3 lakh cost
The Supreme Court rebuked comedian Samay Raina and fellow influencers over their conduct in the disability remarks case, saying they had taken the court "for a ride". It also urged the Centre to consider a law making derogatory remarks against persons with disabilities a penal offence
New Delhi: Slamming the conduct of comedian Samay Raina and YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia and Ashish Chanchlani, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said they had taken the court for a ride, and imposed a cost of Rs 3 lakh each on them.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the order after it was informed that Raina had not invited any disabled persons to his show despite its earlier order.
The apex court had said the influencers could invite specially abled persons on their platforms to promote the cause of generating funds to provide timely treatment to those suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
It had asked five social media influencers, including Samay Raina, to display their unconditional apology in their podcasts or shows for ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders.
“We have no reason to doubt that Samay Raina has taken the court for a ride. He is in brazen violation of statements/ undertakings given before this court.
“The misconduct is sought to be compounded by stating that a compliance affidavit was filed yesterday, however, no affidavit has been filed,” the bench said.
The CJI remarked that they think sitting outside the country they are beyond jurisdiction.
“Let them suffer now. If this is not arrogance, then we have to change the Oxford dictionary also,” the CJI observed, adding, “In public life, the more you respect others, the more respect you earn. You don’t humiliate people.” The top court was hearing a plea filed by Cure SMA India Foundation alleging that Raina made insensitive remarks over the high cost of treatment for SMA and also allegedly ridiculed a person with such a disability.
During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the organisation, told the court that Raina never contacted them to join any of his shows and the affidavit filed by them says they could not contact me.
“Now we find it distasteful to ask for his show. He has apparently done shows with the disabled in some physical locations and did shows.
“I don’t know what kind of youth icon he is. People like Samay Raina are apparently youth icons. I shudder to think so,” she said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “Our youth has better icons.” “Recently, he (Raina) started a new show where he mocked the system without naming anyone. He said at the beginning, I am doing something which I didn’t do in the last series.
“He hangs nimbu and mirchi. He did not name anyone, but it was quite visible. I did not want to go into it but if he (Raina) has not contacted SMA Foundation/persons suffering from SMA then this shows his arrogance,” Mehta said.
The plea flagged jokes made by “India’s Got Latent” host Samay Raina and other social media influencers Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.
Highlighting the need for a stringent law to protect the dignity of the disabled, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to consider framing a statute to make derogatory remarks ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders a penal offence on the lines of the SC-ST Act.
Asking them to be careful about their conduct in future, the bench also directed comedians Raina and others to hold two programmes or shows per month about the success stories of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) to generate funds for the treatment of disabled persons, especially those suffering from SMA.
