The Supreme Court on Monday observed that the probe in relation to podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia was complete and said that it would on hear his plea for the return of his passport on April 28, in an case of distasteful remarks on a YouTube show, as per a PTI report.
On February 18, the top court protected Allahbadia from arrest in multiple FIRs filed over his comments during a YouTube show, and directed him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer of the Nodal Cyber Police Station, Thane.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh said that on April 28, it would consider Allahbadia's plea to have his passport returned.
Samay Raina, however, faces fresh trouble as the Supreme Court on Monday said it would examine a plea alleging that he had ridiculed the disabled, including a person with visual disability and those suffering from a rare disorder like Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Calling it a serious issue, the same bench asked senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for an NGO (Cure SMA Foundation of India), to file a proper petition instead of an interim intervention plea in the pending matter of influencer and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia.
"This is a serious issue. You file a writ petition. We will see what can be done. In writ jurisdiction we have larger scope," the bench told Singh.
During Allahbadia's hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam and Maharashtra police, said in the Guwahati FIR that the statement of one co-accused was to be recorded, whereas the investigation was complete in relation to the FIR in Mumbai but a chargesheet was yet to be filed. The bench recorded Mehta's statement and observed that the investigation qua Allahbadia was complete.
On March 3, the top court permitted Allahbadia to resume his podcast, 'The Ranveer Show', subject to maintaining "morality and decency" and making it suitable for viewers of all ages. Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, was booked for his comments on parents and sex on comedian Samay Raina's YouTube show 'India's Got Latent'.
The apex court had also initially restrained Allahbadia from airing any programme of his podcast which had a direct or an indirect bearing on the merits of the sub-judice cases he was involved in.
On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling his comments "vulgar" and saying he had a "dirty mind" that put society to shame. Aside from Allahbadia and Raina, others named in the case in Assam are comic influencers Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Mukhija.
In that regard, the NGO also referred to deficiencies in the existing legal framework and urged the bench to formulate guidelines on online content.
"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, selfstyled influencers and content creators, broadcasters, intermediaries, users, and end-users," it explained.
The NGO clarified that while it did not intend to seek a blanket restraint on all the content being aired/broadcasted qua persons with disability, it was only concerned with derogatory, denigrating or belittling content.
"Notably, 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 clarified.
The NGO's plea said Raina's act in turn deprecated the public mindset, often resulting in perpetuating a lack of receptivity towards the seriousness of the illness, or the ensuing challenges in the resource management.
