‘Taken the court for a ride’: Supreme Court slaps Rs 3 lakh fine each on Samay Raina, two YouTubers for defying court

3 min readNew DelhiJul 15, 2026 12:49 AM IST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh each on comedian Samay Raina and YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia and Ashish Chanchlani, noting that they had “taken the court for a ride” by not following its directions in the case registered over alleged insensitive remarks on persons with disabilities in the show ‘India’s Got Latent’.

“We have no reason to doubt that Samay Raina has taken the Court for a ride. He is in brazen violation of statements/undertakings given before this Court,” a three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said, imposing the cost.

The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, questioned the delay in filing a compliance affidavit and termed it an attempt to justify the “misconduct”. “The misconduct is sought to be compounded by stating that the compliance affidavit was filed yesterday, however, no affidavit has been filed,” the bench said.

Though the court initially ordered Rs 10 lakh in costs, it finally brought it down to Rs 3 lakh and asked Raina to deposit the same in two weeks. The bench cautioned that it will add one more zero to the figure if the defiance continues.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Cure SMA India Foundation accusing Raina and others of cracking insensitive jokes on persons with disabilities (PwDs) on the show.

The SC while dealing with the matter earlier, had asked them to invite specially-abled persons on their shows and do the needful to generate funds for treatment of people suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

On Tuesday, however, Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, who appeared for the Foundation said Raina had not contacted them to join any of his shows. “I don’t know what kind of an icon he is for the youth … I shudder to think if he is regarded as an icon by the youth,” she exclaimed.

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Solicitor General Tushar Mehta added, “our youth has better icons…” They are “self-proclaimed icons”, said the CJI.

“Recently, he started a new show. He said at the beginning, now I am doing something which I didn’t do in the last series. He hangs ‘nimbu and mirchi’. He did not name anyone, but it was quite clear,” Mehta added.

The CJI said that “in public life, the more you respect others, the more respect you earn. You don’t humiliate people”. The bench added that he will face consequences if he does not respect the sentiments of others.  “Let them suffer now. If this is not arrogance, then we have to change the Oxford dictionary also,” the CJI observed.

Justice Bagchi said: “You should have invited the client of Ms Aparajita Singh and done the show. Now you are giving a sense that you are trying to buy them out. If you used their disability to showcase your fundamental rights to have commercial speech…”