'Dirty Mind, Perverted' : Supreme Court Berates YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia, Stays His Arrest In FIRs For Obscenity

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 18) granted interim protection from arrest to YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia (popularly known as Beer Biceps) in the FIRs registered at Mumbai, Guwahati and Jaipur for the offence of obscenity over his remarks during an episode of the "India's Got Latent" show.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the interim order, while issuing notice to the respondents (Union of India, State of Maharashtra and State of Assam) on the writ petition filed by Allahabadia against the multiple FIRs. It was directed that no further FIR shall be registered against Allahabadia based on the India's Got Latent episode.The interim protection granted to Allahabadia is subject to the following conditions:(i) That he shall join the investigation as and when summoned by the Investigating Officers;(ii) That he shall fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation and not be accompanied by any counsel inside police station(s) during investigation;(iii) That he shall deposit his passport with the Investigating Officer at Thane police station;(iv) That he shall not leave the country without permission from the Supreme Court; and(v) That he or his associates shall not air any other show till further orders.The bench also gave the Youtuber liberty to approach the local police in Maharashtra and Assam for protection of his life and liberty in the event of any threat "so as to enable him to join the investigation".Though the Court granted him interim relief, during the hearing, Justice Kant severely berated Allahabadia for the language he used and described it as "dirty" and "perverted"."Are you defending the kind of language?" Justice Kant asked Advocate Dr Abhinav Chandrachud, who was representing Allahabadia. Chandrachud admitted that he was personally "disgusted" by the language used by Allahabadia, but said that the question was whether it rose to the level of constituting a criminal offence. He referred to the judgment in Apoorva Arora case which held that profanity per se would not amount to obscenity.However, Justice Kant seemed unconvinced. "If this is not obscenity, then what is obscenity? Is the judgment [in Apoorva Arora case] a license to say whatever you want?", the judge asked.When Chandrachud said that Allahabadia was facing multiple FIRs, Justice Kant said that there were only two FIRs registered as on date, and one FIR was in his hometown Mumbai itself while the other one was in Guwahati. Chandrachud replied that as per his knowledge, there is one more FIR (in Jaipur) and complaints are being filed all over the country. He cited the TT Antony case judgment to argue that there cannot be multiple FIRs over the same offence. However, Justice Kant said that the ingredients of the FIRs were different and they were filed with respect to different statements."The dirty language, humiliating FIR used against the persons of Arunachal Pradesh is the subject of the other FIR," said Justice Kant."There is something very dirty in his mind, which has been vomited by him in the program...He is insulting parents also. Why should the Courts favor him?," the judge further asked.Chandrachud also cited the Nupur Sharma case, saying that the Court granted her relief although the statement made by her was "much worse". When he asserted that his client was receiving death threats, Justice Kant, without supporting in any way making of the threats, said that the State will take care of that."If you can try to attain cheap publicity by saying these kind of things, there might be others also who might want to get cheap publicity by making threats," the judge commented."The words which you have used, parents will feel shamed. Sisters and daughters will feel ashamed. Entire society will feel shamed. It shows a perverted mind," Justice Kant opined on Allahabadia's comments.When Chandrachud said that his colleague who went to the police station with the accused was also mobbed, Justice Kant expressed disapproval of the lawyer going to the police station. "Why did the lawyer go? Under which law? Just because you can pay and lawyers will start rendering these services? This is insulting the [lawyers'] dress also," the judge said.When Chandrachud claimed that even Allahabadia's mother (a doctor) was receiving threats from people posing as patients, Justice Kant responded, "What embarrassment he has caused to [his] parents!"The judge further told the counsel that the bench is not sitting in an ivory tower and is well aware of the platform from where Allahabadia copied his objectionable question. However, it was pointed out that in the other societies where such programs are aired, there are certain precautions maintained (such as content warnings/disclaimers), which was apparently not the case with the India's Got Latent show episode.Against this, Chandrachud clarified that the show was offering only restricted access to paid subscribers, who are adults and the controversy erupted when a 10-second video...

'Dirty Mind, Perverted' : Supreme Court Berates YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia, Stays His Arrest In FIRs For Obscenity

Debby Jain

"The words which you have used, parents will feel shamed. Sisters and daughters will feel ashamed. Entire society will feel shamed," Court said during the hearing.

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