New Delhi [India], May 5: The Supreme Court on Monday issued summons to comedians Samay Raina and four others and asked them to personally appear before it over their allegedly insensitive remarks made against persons with disabilities.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai to ensure the presence of Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakar aka Sonali Aditya Desai and Nishant Jagdsish Tanwar before it on the next date of hearing.
The bench made it clear that if they fail to appear before it, coercive steps will be taken to secure their presence. "Hate speech, any speech which is meant to demean another... this kind of freedom, if there, we will curtail it. We know how to...," said Justice Kant.
The order of the top court came on a petition filed by M/s Cure SMA Foundation seeking a prohibition on the broadcast of derogatory and denigrating content on the digital media against persons with disability. It also sought the formulation of guidelines to safeguard the rights and dignity of persons with disability in the context of the broadcasting of online content.
During the hearing, Justice Kant asked senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the NGO, what kind of remedial and curative actions can justifiably be taken against these persons who have indulged in this kind of irresponsible behaviour.
Singh responded that the content had deeply damaging and demoralising effects on people with disabilities. "These are influencers. What they say has weight. It is affecting the attitude of the entire generation," Singh said.
Justice Kant added, "Very demoralising, damaging effects. You try to uplift through social, legislative means, but with one casual action, completely derailed..."
Having regard to the sensitivity and importance of the issue, the bench asked Attorney General for India to assist in the matter.
The top court also issued notice to the Union of India through the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, Social Justice and Empowerment, News Broadcasters and Digital Association, and Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation.
The NGO brought to the notice of the court the broadcast of certain online content, media and programmes that are derogatory, offensive, denigrating, ableist or belittling to persons with disability, or their diseases, or their treatment options.
The petitioner was also aggrieved by the lack of any explicit statutory guidelines to sufficiently regulate the broadcast of such online content, which violates the right to life and dignity of persons with disabilities, while transgressing the qualified right of free speech and expression.
It asked the court to put a positive obligation on both the government and private actors to adopt a unique standard of representation of persons with disability in the online domain.
The NGO accused Raina of insensitive remarks on persons with such conditions, high-costing drugs and treatment options for Spinal Muscular Atrophy and also alleged to have ridiculed a person with disability.
(Disclaimer: Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
