SC allows podcast, wants new law for social media

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.

"There is no absolute fundamental right on a platter in this country and all rights come with corresponding duty...We do not want a regulatory regime that leads to censorship. No stakeholder should advocate that but to say it is free-for-all and anybody can say anything would also be dangerous," remarked the bench as it deliberated upon potential anti-obscenity regulation, directly linked to the controversy surrounding Allahbadia's statements made during an appearance on a show called India's Got Latent last month.

Solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government and the states of Assam and Maharashtra, argued that content such as the one in question was not just vulgar but "perverse" to the extent that even he and the attorney general (AG) R Venkataramani were unable to stomach it.