Supreme Court Lashes Out At Samay Raina, Slams Fine: "Taken Court For A Ride"

The Supreme Court on Tuesday attacked comedian Samay Raina and YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia for reportedly failing to comply with its earlier directions in the India's Got Latent controversy case. During the hearing, the apex court pronounced, “We believe (comedian) Samay Raina has taken court for a ride, brazenly violated our orders. If you don't know how to mend your ways or respect sentiments of the society members then you have to face consequences". The comedian was asked to pay Rs 10 lakh as fine. The comedian's lawyer pled for leniency.

The top court then struck down the fine from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, also cautioning that it will slap Rs 30 lakh fine if it is not satisfied in the next hearing. As per Live Law, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice J.V. Mohana instructed Samay Raina to deposit the amount within two weeks.

Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also interrogated Raina's conduct and referred to one of the comedian's recent performances, alleging that he appeared to be dismissive of the ongoing legal proceedings. "Recently, he started a new show. He said that now, at the beginning, he is doing something which he did not do in the last series. He hangs nimbu-mirchi. He did not name anyone, but the reference was quite visible," Mehta told the court.

The Solicitor General added he had initially refrained from bringing up the issue but decided to do so after learning that Raina had allegedly lapsed to comply with the court's diktats regarding the Cure SMA Foundation. In August last year, the Supreme Court had rapped Raina and other comedians associated with the show to publicly issue an unconditional apology for mocking persons with disabilities and those with rare genetic disorders. During the hearing, the apex court observed that such conduct could attract penal consequences under the Information Technology Act. It also called on the comedians to apologise through their podcasts and other public platforms and duly inform the court about the penalty or cost they were willing to bear. Raina is back with the second season of India's Got Latent.