Supreme Court asks Centre to mull stringent law to deal with derogatory remarks against disabled

New Delhi: Highlighting the need for a stringent law to protect the dignity of the disabled, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to consider framing a statute to make derogatory remarks ridiculing persons with disabilities and rare genetic disorders a penal offence on the lines of the SC-ST Act.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 criminalises casteist slur, acts of discrimination, humiliation, and violence against the members of SCs and STs and makes offences non-bailable.

"Why can't you bring a stringent law on the lines of the SC-ST Act which criminalises casteist remarks - there is punishment if you demean them," a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, appreciated the observation and said humour cannot be at the cost of someone's dignity.

The bench also said that there was a need for a "neutral, independent and autonomous" body to regulate obscene, offensive or illegal content in online platforms.

On the issue of framing guidelines or putting in place a mechanism to deal with derogatory remarks and ridicule against persons with disabilities (PwD), the bench was informed by the Ministry of Broadcasting that certain guidelines are in the process of making.

The bench asked the ministry to bring the guidelines in public domain for discussion and listed the matter after four weeks.

The top court was hearing a petition filed by M/s SMA Cure Foundation, which works for individuals affected by rare Spinal Muscular Atrophy disease. The plea flagged jokes made by "India's Got Latent" host Samay Raina and other social media influencers, Vipun Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar.

Asking them to be careful about their conduct in future, the bench also directed comedians Raina and others to hold two programmes or shows per month about the success stories of PwDs to generate funds for the treatment of disabled persons, especially those suffering from SMA.

The bench said it is part of social penalty and they are spared of other punitive measures.

They have been asked to do so as a reparation for their insensitive jokes about the disabled.

CJI Kant said the influencers can 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 SMA.

The bench refused to consider the plea for recall of the direction on the ground that they are not hosting shows that regularly.

"This is a social burden we are putting on you," it said.

In the hearing, senior advocate Aparajita Singh, appearing for Cure Foundation, said many children, suffering from SMA have, achieved great accomplishments in their lives.

She said the parents of these SMA patients are managing funds for their treatment through crowdfunding.

Singh said the foundation refused to accept the offer of Raina to pay Rs 2.5 lakh to them as the question was of their dignity.

"You and your team need to be very careful in the future.. whether within the country or outside...someone was making comments in Canada also... we know all of this," the CJI said, referring to some comments made by one of the influencers abroad.

"They have mocked this court," the solicitor general said.

Taking note of the foundation, the bench said, "It has been rightly suggested that there should be a dedicated fund/corpus that may be created by the concerned ministry, or if it is already created, the same can be given wide publicity, inviting corporate entities and individuals to generously donate in that fund which is exclusively meant for the treatment of the specially abled persons, like those suffering from SMA.

"The respondents 6 to 10 (comedians) have also volunteered to organise at least two events in a month to generate funds for the corpus. They also seek permission of this court to invite the persons whose success stories whose details are brought on record by Singh," the bench noted.

The bench asked the comedians to "persuade and invite" the specially abled persons on their platforms to promote the cause of generating funds to provide timely and quality treatment to the specially abled like those suffering from SMA.

"We are quite sure that respondent 6 to 10 are repentant and show their sincerity and commitment to the cause, the specially-abled persons who have made landmark achievements in life will also accept to come on the platforms for the purpose of wider publicity in the cause. We hope and expect that such few memorable events will take place before we hear matter on the next date," it said.

Attorney General R Venkataramani and the solicitor general apprised the bench that Centre has proposed some fresh guidelines and the consultation process was on.

The solicitor general said that the issue was not just confined to "obscenity" but "perversity" in user generated content, which are published by individuals in their own YouTube channels or other platforms.

"Freedom of speech is an invaluable right but it cannot lead to perversity," he said.

Referring to self-regulatory mechanisms, the bench said, "self styled bodies will not help. Some neutral autonomous bodies which are free from the influence of those who exploit all of this and the state also are needed as a regulatory measure," If the self-regulation mechanism were so effective then why were instances of violations repeating, the CJI asked.

Earlier, the bench said commercial and prohibited speeches are not covered under the fundamental right.

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.