India’s Top Court Tells Samay Raina to Answer Disability Mocking Petition

The Supreme Court of India on 15 July summoned YouTuber-comedian Samay Raina and four other social-media influencers—Nishant Tanwar, Sonali Thakker, Vipul Goyal and Balraj—after admitting a petition that accuses them of mocking persons with disabilities in videos from their YouTube talent show “India’s Got Latent.” All five appeared before the court in New Delhi as directed. A bench headed by Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi instructed the performers to file written replies within two weeks and warned that any absence at the next hearing, expected in August, would be viewed seriously. The plea, moved by the patient-advocacy group CureSMA, alleges that the content amounts to hate speech against people with spinal muscular atrophy and other disabilities. Separately on the same day, Raina presented a statement to the National Commission for Women in an ongoing inquiry into allegedly sexist material from the same programme. The comedian removed the series from YouTube and issued a public apology earlier this year after the clips went viral and drew police complaints.