‘Took the Court for a ride’: SC slaps Rs 3 lakh cost on comedian Samay Raina for violating undertakings

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a cost of Rs 3 lakh each on comedian Samay Raina and four other stand-up comedians, observing that Raina had “taken the court for a ride” by failing to comply with the undertakings given in connection with insensitive jokes on persons suffering from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana passed the order after being informed that Raina had failed to comply with the directions issued by the apex court earlier, including making efforts to engage with the Cure SMA Foundation and persons suffering from the rare genetic disorder.

“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 CJI Kant-led Bench observed.

The top court also imposed an identical cost of Rs 3 lakh each on comedians Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar alias Sonali Aditya Desai and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

Recording its displeasure, the CJI Kant-led Bench said Raina sought to justify the delay by claiming that a compliance affidavit had been filed, though no such affidavit was on record.

“The misconduct is sought to be compounded by stating that a compliance affidavit was filed yesterday, however, no affidavit has been filed,” the apex court said.

Directing Raina to deposit the cost within two weeks, the CJI Kant-led Bench granted him 15 days to file a compliance affidavit and warned that coercive action would follow in case of continued non-compliance.

During the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for the Cure SMA Foundation of India, submitted that despite the apex court’s previous directions, Raina had neither contacted the Foundation nor persons suffering from SMA.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta also objected to the expression “disabled persons” used in the comedians’ affidavits, submitting that the appropriate terminology should be “specially abled persons”.

The CJI Kant-led Bench initially proposed imposing a cost of Rs 10 lakh before reducing it to a uniform Rs 3 lakh on each of the five comedians. “If you don’t comply, it will become Rs 30 lakh,” the apex court warned the comedians while directing them to comply with its earlier directions.

The matter arises out of proceedings initiated on an application filed by the Cure SMA Foundation of India, which objected to insensitive jokes made by stand-up comedians about patients suffering from the rare genetic disorder, particularly remarks concerning a two-month-old infant requiring a life-saving injection costing around Rs 16 crore.

In August last year, the Supreme Court had directed Raina and the four other comedians to issue public apologies on social media over their offensive remarks concerning the infant suffering from SMA. The comedians had subsequently tendered written apologies before the apex court.

Thereafter, while hearing the matter on November 27, 2025, the top court recorded the comedians’ voluntary undertaking to organise at least two fundraising events every month, either physically or online, for a proposed corpus to support treatment of persons suffering from SMA.

It had also permitted them to invite individuals associated with the Cure SMA Foundation to their platforms to raise awareness and funds for treatment.

Expressing hope that the comedians would demonstrate “genuine remorse” and sincerity towards the cause, the CJI Kant-led Bench had observed: “We are quite certain that if respondent Nos. 6-10 (comedians) demonstrate genuine remorse and show their sincerity and commitment to the cause, these highly qualified individuals with significant achievements to their credit will also agree to appear on the platform to boost publicity for the cause.”

The main writ petition filed by the Cure SMA Foundation concerns the high cost of treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder, and also seeks measures to improve financial assistance for affected patients. The proceedings have also witnessed the Supreme Court expressing concern over insensitive jokes targeting persons with disabilities and examining broader issues relating to dignity, free speech and regulation of harmful online content.

The Union government had informed the Supreme Court that it is preparing draft guidelines to evolve an effective regulatory mechanism for obscene and harmful content on social media.

IANS