On February 18, the top court protected Allahbadia from arrest in multiple FIRs filed over his comments during a YouTube show and directed him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer of Police Station Nodal Cyber Police, Thane.
In what could spell fresh trouble for "India's Got Latent" host Samay Raina, the Supreme Court on Monday said it would examine a plea alleging he ridiculed the disabled, including a person with visual disability and those suffering from a rare disorder like Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Calling it a serious issue, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for NGO Cure SMA Foundation of India to file a proper petition instead of an interim intervention plea in the pending matter of influencer and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia.
"This is a serious issue. You file a writ petition. We will see what can be done. In writ jurisdiction we have larger scope," the bench told Singh.
The bench also took note of the statements that the probe against Allahbadia was over and said it would on April 28 hear a plea for the return of his passport in a case over his distasteful remarks during Raina's show.
On February 18, the top court protected Allahbadia from arrest in multiple FIRs filed over his comments during a YouTube show and directed him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer of Police Station Nodal Cyber Police, Thane.
During the hearing, solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Assam and Maharashtra police, said in the Guwahati FIR, the statement of one co-accused would be recorded whereas investigation was complete in the FIR in Mumbai but a chargesheet remained to be filed.
The bench recorded Mehta's statement and observed the investigation qua Allahbadia was complete.
The Assam Police counsel said they summoned the accused for recording their statements and except one, all of them, including Allahbadia, appeared and recorded their statements.
He informed co-accused Apoorva Makhija was twice issued notices for recording the statements but she did not turn up.
"The next date for recording of her statement is on Tuesday," the counsel said, assuring the court of completing the probe as early as possible.
Senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, appearing for Allahbadia, submitted that his client aside from appearing in India's Got Latent' show had no connection with any of the accused in the case.
Allahbadia, he said, appeared before the police officials concerned and recorded his statement.
The NGO, on the other hand, referred to deficiencies in the existing legal framework and urged the bench to formulate guidelines on online content.
"There was an urgent need for comprehensive guidelines and regulatory measures that explicitly and sufficiently regulate any derogatory, denigrating, ableist and belittling content against the persons with disability, their diseases and their treatment options by various stakeholders, including but not limited to publishers of online curated content, publishers of news and current affairs content, selfstyled influencers and content creators, broadcasters, intermediaries, users, and end-users," it said.
The NGO clarified while it did not intend to seek a blanket restraint on all the content being aired/broadcasted qua persons with disability, it was only concerned with derogatory, denigrating or belittling content.
"Notably, this requires maintaining the highest degree of sensitivity and compassion across the channels, however, that becomes a mammoth task when certain individuals, like the comedian, Samay Raina, host a comedy show and make insensitive commentaries on persons such with such condition, the high-costing drugs and the treatment options," it said.
The NGO's plea said Raina's act in turn deprecated the public mindset, often resulting in perpetuating lack of receptivity towards the seriousness of the illness, or the ensuing challenges in the resource management.
On April 1, Allahbadia filed an undertaking in the top court saying he would maintain decency in his "The Ranveer Show".
The top court on March 3 allowed Allahbadia to resume his podcast "The Ranveer Show" subject to maintaining "morality and decency" and making it suitable for viewers of all ages.
Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, was booked for his comments on parents and sex on comic Samay Raina's YouTube show India's Got Latent.
The apex court had initially restrained Allahbadia from airing any programme of his podcast which had a direct or an indirect bearing on the merits of the sub-judice cases he was involved in.
The top court had also expanded the scope of the proceedings and directed the Centre to come up with a draft regulatory mechanism on social media content.
The bench had asked Mehta to deliberate and suggest such a regulatory mechanism which did not impinge upon the right of free speech and expression but was "effective enough to ensure the parameters of such a fundamental right in Article 19 (4) of the Constitution".
Any draft regulatory mechanism, the court had said, could then be brought in the public domain to invite suggestions from all the stakeholders before taking a legislative or judicial measure on the subject.
On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling his comments "vulgar" and saying he had "dirty mind" which put the society to shame.
Aside from Allahbadia and Raina, others named in the case in Assam are comics Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija.