India, July 15 -- Slamming the conduct of comedian Samay Raina and YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia and Ashish Chanchlani, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said they had taken the court for a ride, and imposed a cost of Rs 3 lakh each on them. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana passed the order after it was informed that Raina had not invited any disabled persons to his show despite its earlier order. The Apex court had said the influencers could invite specially abled persons on their platforms to promote the cause of generating funds to provide timely treatment to those suffering from rare diseases such as Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Also Read - ED raids in 4 states in terror funding, illegal infiltration case It had asked five social media influencers, including Samay Raina, to display their unconditional apology in their podcasts or shows for ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders. "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. "The misconduct is sought to be compounded by stating that a compliance affidavit was filed yesterday, however, no affidavit has been filed," the bench said. The CJI remarked that they think sitting outside the country is beyond their jurisdiction. Also Read - Congress MLA praises CM Pushkar Singh Dhami at Chamoli event, says no bias in development work "Let them suffer now. If this is not arrogance, then we have to change the Oxford dictionary also," the CJI observed, adding, "In public life, the more you respect others, the more respect you earn. You don't humiliate people." The top court was hearing a plea filed by Cure SMA India Foundation alleging that Raina made insensitive remarks over the high cost of treatment for SMA and also allegedly ridiculed a person with such a disability. During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the organisation, told the court that Raina never contacted them to join any of his shows and the affidavit filed by them says they could not contact me. "Now we find it distasteful to ask for his show. He has apparently done shows with the disabled in some physical locations and did shows. "I don't know what kind of youth icon he is. People like Samay Raina are apparently youth icons. I shudder to think so," she said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.