India's Got Latent Row | Supreme Court Orders Release Of Ranveer Allahabadia's Passport

The Supreme Court on Monday (April 28) ordered the release of the passport of YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia, which was deposited as a condition for interim stay of his arrest in the cases registered for the offence of obscenity over his comment in the 'India's Got Latent Show'.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order after being informed that the investigation in the FIRs registered in Assam and Maharashtra with respect to Allahabadia was complete. The bench allowed him to apply to the Maharashtra Cyber Crime Bureau for the release of the passport.Besides the prayer for passport, Dr Abhinav Chandrachud, for Allahabadia, also requested to club the Assam and Maharashtra FIRs, saying that both of them pertain to the same show. However, Justice Surya Kant disagreed, saying that the Guwahati FIR contained certain specific allegations which are not present in the Mumbai FIR. "Why a person perceived to be victim in Assam be asked to come to Maharashtra?" Justice Kant asked.In response, Chandrachud relied on the judgment in the Amish Devgan case, saying that the Court there consolidated all the FIRs which were pertaining to the remarks made in the same episode. The bench said that it will deal with this issue in the next hearing.The bench also noted that a separate writ petition has been filed by M/s Cure SMA Foundation against some remarks made by comedian Samay Raina against persons with disabilities. Earlier, the organisation had filed an application to intervene in the present case. On the last hearing, Justice Kant, who took serious objection to Raina's remarks, suggested to Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, who was representing the organisation, to file an independent petition. Today, the bench allowed the organisation to serve notice of its writ petition to the private respondents through the Mumbai Commissioner of Police, after Aparajita Singh said that their addresses could not be traced.It may be recalled that Allahabadia had to deposit his passport with the Investigating Officer at Thane Police Station, as part of conditions imposed on him by the Supreme Court, while granting interim protection in the cases registered across different states over his remarks during the "India's Got Latent" show.Earlier this month, the Court was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the ongoing investigation in the FIRs registered against Allahabadia over the subject remarks was likely to be completed in 2 weeks. Considering, the Court had expressed that Allahabadia's plea for release of passport/to travel abroad will be dealt with after investigations are complete.On the last date, Allahabadia's plea was adjourned by another week to await completion of the investigation qua him. During the hearing, Advocate (Dr) Abhinav Chandrachud (Allahabadia's counsel) flagged a press conference held by Maharashtra police officials where they allegedly made observations as to Allahabadia's guilt, saying that he was guilty of obscenity and a chargesheet would be filed. Further, M/s Cure SMA Foundation sought intervention in the matter, assailing certain insensitive remarks made by comedian Samay Raina (and others) in relation to persons with disabilities.BackgroundAllahabadia (popularly known as Beer Biceps) and Chanchlani, among others, became the subject of a controversy after certain video clips from an episode of comedian Samay Raina's Youtube show "India's Got Latent" went viral. Besides Allahabadia, Raina and Chanchlani, YouTube celebrities Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija were also part of the episode.These video clips, which contained explicit sexual references in the context of parents, drew mass criticism and created huge outrage, of which Allahabadia and Raina bore the brunt. Soon after, Raina issued a public apology and deleted all episodes of India's Got Latent from his YouTube channel. Allahabadia, on his part, issued a public apology, admitting that his comments were inappropriate.On February 10, however, Guwahati Police registered an FIR against 5 YouTubers and content creators for “promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussion". Reportedly, the Maharashtra Cyber Department and Jaipur Police also registered cases in connection with the controversy. Seeking quashing/clubbing of the multiple FIRs, Allahabadia and Chanchlani approached the Supreme Court.Insofar as Allahabadia is concerned, the top Court granted interim protection subject to conditions (including restriction on airing shows). However, during the hearing, Justice Kant severely berated the Youtuber for the language he used and described it as "dirty" and "perverted". Subsequently, on an application moved by Allahabadia, the restriction on airing of shows was lifted and the Court permitted resumption of "The Ranveer Show". The relief was subject to Allahabadia furnishing an undertaking that his own shows will maintain standards of decency and morality, so that viewers of any age group can...

India's Got Latent Row | Supreme Court Orders Release Of Ranveer Allahabadia's Passport

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