On Thursday, November 27, the Supreme Court told comedians Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagadish Tanwar to feature stories about the achievements of people with disabilities in their shows.
The idea is to raise money for the treatment of disabled people, especially those with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Supreme Court Raps Samay Raina Again
This isn’t just a suggestion, it’s a kind of reparation. The comedians got into trouble for making insensitive jokes about people with disabilities.
The comedians’ lawyer tried to get the court to relax the order maybe just two programs a month, since the comedians don’t do regular shows. But the judges didn’t budge.
The lawyer explained that sponsors organize the events and they don’t happen every month. He said, “I’ll invite them on whatever shows I hold.” Still, the court wouldn’t change its mind. One of the judges said, “This is a social burden we are putting on you.” Someone else pointed out that they could just do it on YouTube. The comedians’ lawyer agreed to that.
What did Samay Raina joke about?
In one of his shows, he mentioned a charity drive for a two-month-old baby who needed an injection that costs ₹16 crore to treat a rare disease. He was talking about Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
During the bit, Samay turned to a random woman in the audience and joked about how, if ₹16 crore suddenly landed in her bank account and she had a baby who needed the injection, she’d at least look over at her husband and think, “Hmmm, inflation is rising!” The punchline, in Hindi, suggested that the choice would be tough since there’s no guarantee the child would survive anyway.
The clip blew up online. Some people called it “dark” or “dank” humour.
The Supreme Court, with Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi on the bench, also told the government to come up with guidelines to stop speeches that offend or mock disabled people, women, kids, and the elderly. The court said freedom of speech doesn’t cover commercial content that hurts other communities.
They took issue with Samay Raina’s affidavit, saying he first tried to justify his actions and act like he was innocent.
The court added that they’re considering penalties for social media influencers, including Raina, who make comments that offend disabled people.
