SC Summons Samay Raina, 4 Others for 'Ridiculing' Disabled Persons

The Supreme Court on Monday summoned five stand-up comics, including Samay Raina, over offensive and derogatory remarks made against persons with disabilities, even as it stressed that any speech that demeans a community or class of persons will be curtailed.

- Abraham Thomas

NEW DELHI:

The court considered the issue in a petition filed by Cure SMA Foundation working for the welfare of disabled persons, that produced as evidence, videos where comedian Raina and four others were seen making fun of persons with disabilities.

Issuing notice on the petition to the Centre and Maharashtra government, the court directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to ensure the presence of the five in court on the next date, failing which the bench threatened to order coercive steps to secure their presence. Besides Raina, the other persons summoned by the court are Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Tanwar.

No stranger to controversy This is not the first time Raina courted controversy; he hosted India's Got Latent, the show in which podcaster and influencer Ranveer Allahbadia made distasteful comments.

The bench headed by Justice Surya Kant took strong objection to "irresponsible statements" made by the five: "There are people who seek fundamental right of free speech. If there is such freedom, then we will curtail any speech which demeans another community."