SC asks Centre to draft regulatory mechanism on social media content

New Delhi: While allowing Ranveer Allahbadia to resume his show with certain conditions, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Centre to come up with a draft regulatory mechanism on social media content, which should be put in the public domain, aside from gathering suggestions from all stakeholders.

However, the apex court noted that it doesn't want any regulatory regime which is about censorship, but it also cannot be a free-for-all platform.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh took note of Allahbadia's submission that the podcast was his only source of livelihood and around 280 people employed by him were dependent on the show.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and states like Maharashtra, Assam and Odisha, said the comments made on the contentious YouTube show "India's Got Latent" was not only vulgar but perverse and urged the court not to modify the condition of not airing any show.

"Let him remain silent for sometime," he said.

The bench told senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, who was representing Allahbadia, that fundamental rights were not (served) on a platter and came with certain restrictions.

Justice Surya Kant pointed out one of the accused (Samay Raina) in the case went to Canada and spoke on the case.

“These youngsters may think that we are outdated but we know how to deal with them. Don’t take the court lightly,” the judge cautioned.

The bench subsequently restrained Allahbadia from speaking anything related to the case on his show.

The bench also refused to allow Allahbadia to travel abroad for now and said his prayer would be considered once he joined the investigation in the case.

Several FIRs were lodged against Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, for his remarks on parents and sex on comic Samay Raina's show "India's Got Latent".

On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling his comments "vulgar" and saying he had a "dirty mind" which put society to shame.