This morning the Supreme Court heard the plea filed by SMA Cure Foundation accusing comedians Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Tanwar of mocking persons with disabilities. “Good sense has prevailed, all [comedians] have apologised,” said senior advocate Aparajita Singh representing the NGO, according to LiveLaw. The court has ordered the defendants to issue apologies on their social media channels including YouTube and Instagram pages. After issuing the apologies, they have to inform the court about the penalty they are willing to bear.

“Let them use their influence to take forward this issue,” said Justice Kothishwar Singh. “That would be the best apology.”

Justice Surya Kant who also sat on the bench opined that a foundation cannot intervene every time for some action to be taken. Some guidelines will have to be set in place for comedians.

“Humour is well taken and is a part of life,” said Justice Bagchi. “But when we start laughing at others and create a breach of sensibility…in a community plane, when humour is generated, it becomes problematic.”

SMA Cure Foundation had filed an application to regulate free speech to curb mocking of persons with disabilities in April. Subsequently, the Supreme Court had declared on 21 April that they were “deeply disturbed” by Raina’s comments on blind people, and on an infant suffering from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The comedian also commented on the INR 16 crore injection that is needed to treat the condition.