SC drops criminal case against Samay Raina over disability jokes

The Supreme Court on Friday, Aug 14 quashed criminal proceedings against comedian Samay Raina and four others for their remarks about people with disabilities and appreciated their efforts in spreading awareness and promoting the dignity of such people.

Besides Raina, the apex court quashed the FIRs and criminal proceedings against Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

The top court appreciated their efforts in organising a chess tournament in March for specially-abled persons and helping raise awareness about organisations working for persons with disabilities, including those supporting people suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

"Once there are genuine efforts, positive results are bound to be there," said a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. "They are very bright youngsters. If they have started working in the positive direction, they will bring positive results," the bench observed.

The top court was hearing pleas, including one filed by M/s SMA Cure Foundation, which works for individuals affected by the rare disease. The foundation's plea flagged jokes made by "India's Got Latent" host Raina and other social media influencers Goyal, Ghai, Thakkar and Tanwar.

During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the foundation, said that pursuant to the top court's earlier order in the matter, the influencers have made "genuine efforts" and tried to engage with the foundation. "This matter was going nowhere till this court took a very strong stand last time," Singh said.

While quashing the FIRs and related proceedings against them, the bench said the matter concerning the five influencers stands closed. The top court said it would consider the larger issue concerning the need for comprehensive directions to protect the dignity of disabled persons.

During the hearing, the CJI observed that on Thursday, he and some judges of the top court had the opportunity to interact with a delegation of persons with disabilities. "It was quite a learning and an eye-opener for us also," he said, adding, "We have requested them to send their suggestions also. It was quite a satisfying experience, what we saw yesterday and what we interacted."

The delegation that the CJI and other judges interacted with on Thursday comprised 20 people from different fields, including paralympian Nidhi Mishra, Ankur Dhama, Major D.P. Singh and Chhonzin Angmo, among others.

During Friday's hearing, the bench noted that the influencers have engaged in effective conversation with the foundation and are willing to invite persons suffering from SMA on their shows, adding that more shows were scheduled for fundraising.

Last November, Raina and others had volunteered before the apex court to organise at least two events each month, either in person or online, to raise funds for a corpus to provide financial aid and assistance for persons suffering from SMA. 

(With inputs from PTI)