Ranveer Allahabadia Row: Supreme Court Stays Arrest, But Reprimands Over Comment

Supreme Court gave interim relief from arrest to Ranveer Allahabadia against FIRs lodged against him in Maharashtra and Assam on Tuesday. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh did strongly reprimand the influencer over his controversial comments made during a YouTube comedy show.

While giving the relief, the top court said Allahabadia's comments reflected "mental filth and perverted thinking". This incident shamed not only all parents but also the society, the court said.

The court berated Allahbadia for his “unacceptable comments” on the show and said, “... there is something dirty in his mind which has been vomited on the YouTube show.”

“The words you have used will make daughters, sisters, parents and even the society feel ashamed. It shows a perverted mind. If this is not obscenity, what is it? Why should we quash or club the FIRs against you?” asked Justice Surya Kant, who was on the bench along with Justice N Kotiswar Singh.

However, the bench agreed to the submissions of senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, representing the influencer, that Allahbadia be protected from arrest keeping in mind the filing of multiple FIRs on the same issue as well as the death threats against him.

The court has stayed further FIRs against Allahabadia, apart from the two he is already facing.

“Are you defending the kind of language he has used?” Justice Surya Kant asked Chandrachud, who conceded that he himself was “disgusted”.

The senior lawyer, however, said the question was whether the remarks constituted a criminal offence as profanity per se would not amount to obscenity.

Chandrachud referred to Allahbadia's right to life and said he cannot be prosecuted at several places for the same act.

“If you can try to attain cheap publicity by saying these kinds of things, there might be others also who might want to get cheap publicity by making threats,” the bench said.

“What are the values of society? What are these parameters, do you even know? Society has some self-evolved values. You need to respect them…In the name of freedom of speech, no one has a licence to speak whatever they want against the norms of the society,” the bench observed.

The top court also restrained Allahbadia and his associate influencers on the controversial YouTube show from airing any other episode till further orders.

It directed Allahbadia to deposit his passport at the Thane police station and said he shall not leave the country without the prior permission of the court.

The bench directed Allahbadia to cooperate in the probe of the FIRs lodged at Maharashtra and Assam.

The bench also sought responses from the Centre, Maharashtra and Assam governments on Allahbadia's plea seeking clubbing and quashing of multiple FIRs against him.

An Assam police team was in Pune to issue summons to Raina in connection with a case filed in the northeastern state over his now deleted YouTube show. Raina has a house in Balewadi in Pune.

On Monday, a case was registered in Guwahati by a resident for alleged promotion of obscenity in a publicly accessible online show.

Besides Allahbadia and Raina, others named in the case in Assam are Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija.

Earlier, Allahabadia was asked to remain present at Mumbai's Khar police station by the Mumbai police. The YouTuber is also facing a police complaint in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

The Maharashtra Cyber Department has registered the case under relevant sections of the IT Act and sought the removal of all 18 episodes of the comedy show.

(With PTI inputs)