SC to comedians: Raise funds for specially abled

“If you show repentance and commitment to the cause of specially abled persons, this will have a widespread positive effect,” emphasised a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered comedian Samay Raina and four other social media influencers to host persons with disabilities (PwD) at least twice every month, using their digital platforms and events to create awareness and generate funds for treatment of children suffering from rare disorders such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

Thursday’s development followed the bench’s August 2025 order directing the five comedians, including Samay Raina, to publish unconditional apologies and indicate the monetary penalty they were willing to pay as part of “purging the contempt” after they mocked persons with disability during an online show. (HT Photo)

“If you show repentance and commitment to the cause of specially abled persons, this will have a widespread positive effect,” emphasised a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant.

The direction came after the bench took strong exception to a video in which the comedians mocked people with disabilities, prompting the court to convert the controversy into an opportunity for reparative engagement rather than punitive action.

“We will not impose a fine on you, provided you come with a proposal for donation to a very good institution… we don’t want to impose a penal burden but you must discharge a social responsibility,” the bench, also comprising justice Joymalya Bagchi, told the influencers after their counsel informed the bench that they had already filed affidavits tendering unconditional apology.

Taking note of the proposal placed before it, the bench recorded: “The private respondents have proposed to organise at least two events a month to generate funds. They have also sought permission of this court to invite the persons whose success stories have been brought on record to these shows… We leave it to the respondents to pursue and invite the specially abled persons to the shows for the cause of generating funds.”

The bench added that if Raina, Sonali Thakkar, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjit Singh Ghai and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar show repentance and the ability to contribute to the cause of specially abled persons, “these memorable events will have a widespread effect.”

The bench noted the submission of senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for petitioner NGO Cure SMA India Foundation, who produced success stories of children suffering from SMA and explained how the mockery damaged both dignity and fundraising efforts.

“In one of the programmes, the children were ridiculed… when such disparaging content comes from a crowd platform, it is difficult to get funding,” Singh said, adding that treatment costs are often astronomical, running into ₹16 crore for a single child in some cases.

She urged the court to direct that Raina and others must channel their influence for public good: “Let him conduct programmes on the stories of these children. First is the funding; second is awareness.”

Supporting the plea for remedial action, solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the bench that the problem was not spontaneous humour but premeditated scripting.

During the hearing, the bench observed it was prepared to treat their mistakes as bona fide, provided they showed genuine commitment.

“Let them conduct one programme every fortnight…You continue to do the shows, generate the funds and put them in the corpus meant for the persons with disabilities,” it added.

The court also remarked that “the best form of regulation is self-regulation,” while “the idea of perversity is related to society.”

The bench additionally explored wider regulatory reforms on online obscenity, age-gating and child protection, questioning the current inadequacy of disclaimers.

“A warning of one line and then the video starts—by the time a person understands the warning, it is already there,” the CJI said, proposing stronger age-verification such as Aadhaar-based gating before explicit or sensitive content becomes viewable. “Build a responsible society and most of the problems will be solved,” he added.

Thursday’s development followed the bench’s August 2025 order directing the five comedians to publish unconditional apologies and indicate the monetary penalty they were willing to pay as part of “purging the contempt” after they mocked persons with disability during an online show.

In that order, the bench had cautioned that creators “cannot press free speech rights when monetised content offends the dignity of others,” calling such shows “perverted” and “disgusting.” It emphasised that commercial speech carried responsibilities and that “Article 21 (right to dignity) must prevail over Article 19 (free speech) where they collide.”