Saralnama
The Supreme Court of India on Monday directed social media influencers, including stand-up comic Samay Raina, to publicly apologize on their podcasts and programmes for ridiculing persons with disabilities. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi took suo moto cognizance following a petition by the Cure SMA Foundation of India, which supports patients affected by spinal muscular atrophy. The court emphasized that freedom of expression does not extend to commercial speech that hurts the sentiments of vulnerable communities and warned that penalties would be imposed for such conduct. The direction came after multiple complaints about offensive remarks made by influencers and comics against disabled persons on online platforms. The court also asked the government to frame guidelines to regulate social media content that targets disabled persons and other vulnerable groups. The influencers named alongside Samay Raina include Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar. The court dispensed with their personal appearance for now, provided they comply with the apology directive and file affidavits confirming the same. (Updated 25 Aug 2025, 12:47 IST; source: link)