New Delhi: Friday brought major relief for Samay Raina as the Supreme Court closed criminal proceedings against the stand-up comedian and four other social media personalities over insensitive remarks against persons with disabilities on the show ‘India’s Got Latent’.
Besides Raina, the top court quashed FIRs and related proceedings against comedians Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar alias Sonali Aditya Desai and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar
The court had earlier reprimanded Raina over the crass jokes, and ordered him to conduct awareness programmes and raise funds for persons with disabilities.
On Friday, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice JV Mohana appreciated Raina and his fellow-comedians’ efforts to organise events and raise awareness and funds for people suffering from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
Noting their compliance with the top court’s direction, the CJI-led bench quashed all cases against them.
“Once there are genuine efforts, positive results are bound to be there. They are very bright youngsters. If they have started working in positive direction, there will be positive output,” the CJI said.
However, the court kept the broader issue arising from the case alive, and said it would consider suggestions from persons with disabilities and issue appropriate directions on ensuring greater sensitivity and safeguards in online content.
The five respondents organised a chess tournament for persons with disabilities in March, an event which received widespread media coverage and generated awareness about organisations working for persons with disabilities, including SMA. Donations were received by organisations which work for the cause, the Supreme Court noted.
The court also appreciated the “constructive conversation” between the comedians and Cure SMA Foundation, which had approached the court over the content concerning persons with disabilities.