Making insensitive jokes or mocking people with disabilities is not fair in society. Anyone who does that must be warned, and the Supreme Court of India has just done the same. The court asked five comedians – Samay Raina, Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar – to publicly apologise for making insensitive jokes mocking persons with disabilities (PwDs).
Additionally, the Supreme Court also warned that financial penalties may be imposed for their remarks during an episode of ‘India’s Got Latent’. Cure SMA Foundation raised a plea in the court, accusing all the comedians of mocking people with disabilities.
At the same time, the Supreme Court also asked all the influencers in question to file a necessary affidavit detailing the steps they can take to make use of their platforms in bringing awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities.
The bench directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to prepare comprehensive guidelines for the language to be used on social media platforms, to protect the dignity of all persons, including those with disabilities.
Comedian Samay Raina has been accused of ridiculing the treatment of patients suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in two of his videos. Ranveer Allahbadia and other comedians or content creators are involved in similar controversies. The top court directed all of them to issue apologies on their respective channels and platforms.
“Today we have an unfortunate incident involving insult to disabled persons; tomorrow it could be women, senior citizens, or other vulnerable groups. Anybody could say anything. Where will society end?” Justice Suryakant remarked in this case.
The Supreme Court also stated that online platforms, including YouTube, may also be held accountable if they host content that violates the dignity of persons with disabilities.
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