The court commented in this case that when you are commercializing your speech, you cannot hurt the sentiments of a community through it. The apex court also reprimanded Raina and other comedians for the jokes of people with disabilities.
The bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition by the SMA Foundation of India, which helps patients and families affected by spinal muscular atrophy. In the petition, the court’s attention was drawn to the jokes who made fun of the persons with disabilities. The comedians criticized by the court include time Raina, Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.
Allegations of mocking disabled and rare diseases
The petition alleged that these comedians have made fun of the disabled and rare diseases in their show, hurting the victims’ sentiments. The court has directed him to apologize unconditionally to recite insensitive jokes to mock people suffering from PWDs and rare diseases. The Supreme Court in its order said that the dignity of every person should be protected.
Wonderful victory
The petition was associated with matters related to the India’s Got latent dispute, in which YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia was accused. Senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the Foundation, said that “Sadbudhi has won” and all comedians have apologized. The court has asked these artists to spread the apology on their channel.
Instructions to make the center guidelines
All comedians including Raina were present during the court hearing. Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court that everyone had apologized. During this, Justice Suryakant commented, “Jokes are part of life and we can accept the joke on us but when you start making fun of others, it is a violation of sensitivity.” The Supreme Court has also asked him how much penalty should be imposed on him for this inhuman offense? The court also directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to make guidelines in this case.