'Will Curtail Demeaning Speech' : Supreme Court Issues Notice To Comedian Samay Raina & 4 Others In Plea Over Jokes On Disabled

The Supreme Court today issued notice to comedians Samay Raina, Vipun Goyal and three others in a petition alleging that they had made insensitive jokes mocking persons with disabilities.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai to issue notice to them to ensure that they remain present in the Court on the next date. If they fail to appear, coercive steps will be taken, the Court warned.

The bench passed this order in a writ petition filed by M/s Cure SMA Foundation. The other three persons summoned are Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar a.k.a. Sonali Aditya Desai and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

The bench also sought the presence of the Attorney General for India to assist the Court, having regard to the "sensitivity and importance" of the issue raised.

Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, for the petitioner, submitted that since Raina and others are influencers, their words carry a lot of weight amongst the young generation. She argued that freedom of speech and expression does not extend to defaming and belittling vulnerable persons. The counsel for the State, on the other hand, told the bench that the private respondents were even ridiculing orders passed by the Supreme Court.

Singh emphasized that there is no freedom to defame and the right to free speech under Article 19(1)(a) must be balanced with another person's right to dignity.

Justice Kant, who took a serious note of the submissions, asked the petitioners to think of "remedial, curative and preventive" measures which can be adopted against such kinds of remarks.

"Unfortunately, there are people who, in the name of fundamental right of speech, keep on...continue to write articles as if everything is....". When Singh said that such kinds of insensitive jokes actually amount to "hate speech", Justice Kant responded, "Hate speech, any speech which is meant to demean another...this kind of freedom, if there, we will curtail it. We know how to...".

The judge, expressing the intention to lay down guidelines on the issue, requested the senior counsel to assist the Court on this aspect.

It may be recalled that the Foundation initially raised the instant grievances through an intervention application filed in YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia's case pertaining to the India's Got Latent controversy, where the Court expressed an intention to do something to regulate obscene content on YouTube and other social media, and asked the Union Government about its views.

The Foundation stated that the existing regulatory framework requires adequate and explicit protections to protect persons with disabilities from 'disabling humor' which is denigrating, demeans and disparages persons with disability, while at the same time not restrict disability humor which challenges conventional wisdom about disability.

Further, it raised concerns about the misuse of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution by various stakeholders, including publishers of online curated content, news, self-styled influencers and content creators.

On April 21, Justice Kant suggested to Senior Advocate Singh (appearing for the Foundation) that the Foundation file a comprehensive petition, impleading all concerned individuals who made such remarks and suggesting measures. "This is very very serious issue. We are really disturbed to see that. We would like [you] to place on record the instances also. If you have video-clippings alongwith transcript, bring them. Implead the concerned persons. Also suggest measures which according to you...Then we will see", said the judge.

Following the same, the Foundation filed the present petition.

Case Title: M/S. CURE SMA FOUNDATION OF INDIA Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 460/2025