SC quashes FIRs against Samay Raina, four others over disability remarks

The Supreme Court on Friday, 14 August quashed the FIRs and criminal proceedings against comedian Samay Raina and four others over remarks about persons with disabilities, taking note of their subsequent efforts to promote awareness and dignity of the community.

Besides Raina, the court granted relief to comedians and social media personalities Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana appreciated the efforts made by the five to engage with organisations working for persons with disabilities and raise awareness about their concerns.

The bench particularly noted their role in organising a chess tournament in March for persons with disabilities and helping raise awareness about organisations supporting them, including those working with people suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

"Once there are genuine efforts, positive results are bound to be there," the bench said. "They are very bright youngsters. If they have started working in the positive direction, they will bring positive results."

The court was hearing a batch of pleas, including one filed by M/s Cure SMA Foundation of India, which works with people affected by SMA. The foundation had flagged remarks made by Raina, host of India's Got Latent, and the other four social media personalities.

Senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the foundation, told the court that following its earlier directions, the five had made "genuine efforts" and sought to engage with the foundation. "This matter was going nowhere till this court took a very strong stand last time," Singh said.

The bench thereafter quashed the FIRs and related criminal proceedings against the five and said the matter concerning them stood closed. The court, however, said it would consider the larger issue of whether comprehensive directions were required to protect the dignity of persons with disabilities.

The proceedings came against the backdrop of the court's earlier directions requiring the five to undertake awareness and fundraising initiatives for persons with disabilities. In November last year, they had volunteered to organise at least two events every month, either in person or online, to raise funds for a corpus aimed at providing financial aid and assistance to people suffering from SMA.

During Friday's hearing, the bench noted that the influencers had engaged in effective conversations with the foundation and were willing to invite people suffering from SMA to their shows. It also noted that more fundraising shows were scheduled.

The Chief Justice also referred to an interaction he and other judges had with a 20-member delegation of persons with disabilities on Thursday. "It was quite a learning and an eye-opener for us also," he said, adding that the judges had asked the delegation to submit their suggestions. "It was quite a satisfying experience what we saw yesterday and what we interacted."

The delegation included people from different fields, including paralympians Nidhi Mishra and Ankur Dhama, Major D.P. Singh and Chhonzin Angmo.

With PTI inputs