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Comedian Samay Raina and four others directed to issue public apologies for mocking disabled persons by Supreme Court on Monday.
Court asked the Union government to frame rules for social media content to prevent ridicule of disabled persons, women, children, and senior citizens.
Cure SMA Foundation submitted clips of the comedians; petition argued the content violated constitutional rights and amounted to “hate speech.”
The Supreme Court of India on August 25, 2025, directed comedian Samay Raina and four others to issue a public apology on their social media platforms and YouTube channels for mocking disabled persons. The top court also stated that it may impose penalties on the influencers including Samay Raina for making jokes on people with disabilities.
The court named Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar along with Raina in the case. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing a petition filed by the Cure SMA Foundation.
The bench has asked the centre to frame guidelines for social media platforms to prevent content that ridicules or offends disabled persons, women, children, and senior citizens. Attorney General R. Venkataramani told the court that the Union government will submit draft guidelines to regulate social media content.
See Also: ‘Right to Dignity Over Right to Speech’: SC Judges on India’s Got Latent Controversy
Justice Joymalya Bagchi remarked, “They are commercialising speech. The community at large should not be utilised to hurt the sentiments of certain sections. It’s not only freedom of speech, it is commercial speech.” Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, representing the Cure SMA Foundation, said, “Spread awareness about the issue. Let them use their influence to take forward this issue. That would be the best apology.”
The Cure SMA Foundation, which raises awareness about spinal muscular atrophy, submitted video clips of the comedians mocking people with the disorder. The petition stated that such content violated the rights of persons with disabilities under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and fell under the reasonable restrictions of Article 19(2).
The petition also described the videos as promoting stereotypes and harming the participation of disabled persons in society. It argued that the comedians’ expressions amounted to “hate speech.”
The controversy began with an episode of India’s Got Latent, hosted by Raina, where Ranveer Allahbadia made a vulgar remark about “parents and sex.” Multiple FIRs were filed against Raina and Allahbadia for offensive comments which were made during the show. [Rh/Eth/VS]
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