The Supreme Court on Monday directed comedian Samay Raina and four others to apologise for jokes they had made about disabled persons on the India’s Got Latent show, Live Law reported.

The court asked Raina, and content creators Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar aka Sonali Aditya Desai and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar, to post the apologies on their social media platforms and YouTube channels.

The court said that it will also impose a penalty on them, Live Law reported.

The bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing a petition filed by Cure SMA Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that raises awareness and provides support for patients with spinal muscular atrophy.

The petitioner had also sought guidelines to ensure that disabled persons are not ridiculed.

The NGO had initially brought the matter to light through an intervention application filed in another case related to sexually explicit remarks made by YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia during an episode of the show India’s Got Latent in February. The show was hosted by Raina.

On Monday, the court said that humour cannot be at the expense of any person’s honour.

“And this is what so-called influencers of today should bear in mind,” Bagchi was quoted as having observed. “They are commercialising speech. The community at large should not be utilised to hurt the sentiments of certain sections. It’s not only freedom of speech, it is commercial speech.”

Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court that the Union government will place on record the draft guidelines that are being proposed to regulate social media content.

The bench told Venkataramani that the guidelines should not be a knee-jerk reaction to one incident but based on broad parameters involving views of all stakeholders, PTI reported.

The attorney general said that there cannot be a “complete gag”, Live Law reported.

During the hearings earlier, the court had said that it intended to do something to regulate allegedly obscene content on YouTube and social media platforms. It had in March urged the Union government to formulate guidelines.

Kant had told the attorney general during an earlier hearing that guidelines framed by the government to regulate online content must “balance” freedoms and duties.

Also read: Why the Supreme Court’s new push to regulate social media threatens free expression

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