Can't Remove Posts Without Hearing Users

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed podcaster and YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia to resume his podcast even as it nudged the Union government to formulate regulatory measures to check obscenity on social media and YouTube channels, underlining that such measures must not amount to censorship but remain within constitutional bounds.

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI:

The court's remarks came while hearing a plea by Allahbadia, who had sought protection from arrest in criminal cases linked to distasteful and obscene remarks he made on a YouTube show. A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh also allowed Allahbadia to resume his podcast, "The Ranveer Show," subject to an undertaking to maintain "standards of decency and morality."

As it suggested in an earlier hearing, the bench has now formally expanded the proceedings to deliberate on the broader issue of online content regulation by urging the government to draft tentative regulatory measures that focus on balancing free speech with the need to curb content deemed excessively obscene or offensive.