The Maharashtra Police have filed a case against several YouTubers and influencers, including Samay Raina, Ranveer Allahbadia, Ashish Chanchlani, Apoorva Mukhija, and others for comments made during the comedy show India Got Latent. The case was filed after all episodes of the show were viewed by the cyber branch of the police. In two days running, legal action has been taken against the remarks.
Second obscenity case filed against YouTubers
The Assam police had already filed a case against YouTubers Ranveer Allahbadia, Samay Raina, and others for allegedly promoting obscenity and talking about sexually explicit topics. The second obscenity case has been filed in Maharashtra and involves 30 people, including Rakhi Sawant, Ashish Chanchlani, and Balraj Ghai. Police have issued summons to all of them.
The case has been registered under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, relating to transmission of obscene material through electronic media. It also contains relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Authorities have stated they will continue with further investigation and summon people connected with the case.
Maharashtra CM Hints at Action Over Remarks
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis talked about the controversy on Monday stating that freedom of speech is quite important but nobody’s freedom will be allowed to encroach others’ freedom of speech. “Everyone has the freedom of speech, but our freedom ends where we encroach upon the freedom of others,” he said and indicated that authorities were ready for action.
Backlash and an Apology by Ranveer Allahbadia
The controversy began when Ranveer Allahbadia made an inappropriate sexual comment to a contestant on India Got Latent, sparking widespread backlash. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) intervened, urging YouTube to remove videos containing Allahbadia’s remarks.
In response to the backlash, Allahbadia issued an apology, calling his comment “inappropriate” and acknowledging his lack of expertise in comedy. “My comment wasn’t only inappropriate, but it wasn’t even funny. Comedy is not my forte. I’m here just to apologize. Many of you asked me if this is how I would like to utilize my platform, and obviously, this is not how I wish to use it. I’m not going to give any context or justification or reasoning behind whatever happened,” he said.
