New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Friday quashed criminal proceedings against comedian Samay Raina and four others for their remarks about people with disabilities.
Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar are the others who got relief from the court.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana passed the order after noting that the comedians had taken several efforts aimed at making amends and promoting awareness and dignity for persons with disabilities.
The top court appreciated the efforts made by them in organising a chess tournament in March for specially-abled persons and helping raise awareness about organisations working for persons with disabilities, including the ones supporting those suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
"Once there are genuine efforts, positive results are bound to be there. They are very bright youngsters. If they have started working in the positive direction, they will bring positive results," the bench observed.
The top court was hearing pleas, including the one filed by M/s SMA Cure Foundation, which works for individuals affected by rare SMA disease.
The plea flagged jokes made by "India's Got Latent" host Raina and other social media influencers Goyal, Ghai, Thakkar and Tanwar.
During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the foundation, said that pursuant to the top court's order in the matter, these influencers have made "genuine efforts" and have tried to engage with the foundation.
"This matter was going nowhere till this court took a very strong stand last time," Singh said.
While quashing the FIR and related proceedings against them, the bench said the matter concerning these five influencers stands closed.
The top court said it would consider the larger issue concerning the need for issuing comprehensive directions to protect the dignity of disabled.
During the hearing, the CJI observed that on Thursday, he and some judges of the top court had the opportunity to interact with a delegation of persons with disabilities.
"It was quite a learning and an eye-opener for us also," he said, adding, "We have requested them to send their suggestions also."
"It was quite a satisfying experience what we saw yesterday and what we interacted," the CJI said.
The delegation with whom the CJI and other judges interacted on Thursday comprised 20 people from different fields, including paralympian Nidhi Mishra, Ankur Dhama, Major D P Singh, Chhonzin Angmo among others.
During the hearing on Friday, the bench noted that these influencers have engaged in effective conversation with the foundation and are willing to invite persons suffering from SMA in their shows. It said more shows were scheduled to be held for fundraising.
Last November, Raina and others had volunteered before the apex court to organise at least two events each month, either in person or online, to raise funds for the corpus that may be created to provide financial aid and assistance for persons suffering from SMA.