SC raps comedian Samay Raina, fines him ₹3 crore: ‘If you don’t comply, it will be ₹30 crore’ | Today’s news

The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed comedian Samay Raina for not complying with its order in a case involving insensitive remarks on his show about persons with disabilities and imposed a fine of Rs. ₹10k before reducing to ₹3 lakhs. “If you don’t comply, this will happen.” ₹30 lakh,” the Supreme Court warned.

Four others, including YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia and Ashish Chanchlani, were also raped for violating court orders and fined. ₹3 million each.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohan passed the order after being informed that Raina had not invited any disabled person on her show, as per her earlier order.

“We have no reason to doubt that Samay Raina has taken the court for a ride. He is in brazen violation of the representations/undertakings made before this court,” the court said.

“The doubt is to be compounded by the statement that an affidavit of compliance was filed yesterday but no affidavit was filed,” it added and imposed the fine.

The CJI noted that he thought those sitting outside the country were outside the jurisdiction. “We have been providing freedom for so long. We thought that you are youths from decent families and that you will work for it, but nothing is happening,” the CJI observed.

Raina’s lawyer rejected the accusation that she is arrogant. But the CJI said, “If this is not arrogance, we must also change the Oxford Dictionary.”

Fine reduced to ₹3 lakhs

“You should have invited Ms. Aparajita Singh’s client and put on a show. Now you give the impression that you are trying to buy them off. If you have used their disability to demonstrate your fundamental right to commercial expression…” The Bar and Bench quoted Justice Bagchi after Raina’s counsel told the court that ₹9 crores was collected through performances for disabled people.

“As an artist, you are in public life. In public life, the more you respect others, the greater the investment,” CJI said.

The Supreme Court eventually fined Raina and others. Initially, the bench considered costs ₹10k but eventually it was reduced to ₹3 million per person.

The petitioner also asked to comply with the court’s previous instructions. “If you don’t comply, this will happen.” ₹30 lakh,” the bench warned Raina and others.

What was the request about?

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by the Cure SMA India Foundation, which alleged that Raina made insensitive remarks about the high cost of treatment for spinal muscular atrophy and also allegedly mocked a person with such a disability.

During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the organisation, told the court that Raina had never contacted them to join any of his shows.

The plea tagged jokes made by Samay Raina and other social media influencers Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

The Supreme Court on Thursday emphasized the need for a strict law to protect the dignity of the disabled and asked the Center to consider making a law to make derogatory remarks mocking persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders an offense under the SC-ST Act.

She asked them to be careful about their behavior in future and directed comedians Raina and others to host two programs or shows a month on the success stories of persons with disabilities (PwD) to raise funds for the treatment of the disabled, especially those suffering from SMA.