In a huge relief for Ranveer Allahbadia, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the prosecution’s plea to cancel the YouTuber’s podcast and said that he was free to run the program, “subject to morality and decency.”
“He is saying there are multiple employees, so there are families whose livelihood is in question. Subject to maintaining morality and decency, if he wants to run a program, we can say he can,” said the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court has allowed YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia to resume his show under strict conditions. The court had earlier restricted him from airing content due to obscenity charges. He must maintain decency and morality and avoid discussing the case. The court also stressed… pic.twitter.com/wJY1AFHjcT
— Jagran English (@JagranEnglish) March 3, 2025
Following Allahbadia’s obscene remarks on the now-deleted ‘India’s Got Latent’ show, the Supreme Court on February 18 barred him from airing any show while granting him interim protection from arrest based on multiple FIRs filed by the Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Assam Police.
However, the top court came down heavily on Allahbadia, saying that freedom of speech has its limitations, observing that using foul language is not humour. “We have some excellent comedians in Bollywood and good writers in terms of writing humour. Its element of creativity,” said the bench.
“Fundamental rights also come with duties. Country gives guarantee to enjoy fundamental rights but there also some duties,” the bench observed.
Earlier, Abhinav Chandrachud, representing Allahbadia, pleaded before the court to allow his client to host podcasts. “He has many employees. This is his livelihood, not comedy. I understand he has no sense of humour. But he interviews people,” said Chandrachud.
On the other hand, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the state, said that Allahbadia was guilty by association and urged the court to “let him stay quiet for some time.”
Meanwhile, the court told the prosecution that it was not in favour of a “regulatory regime which leads to censorship,” the bench maintained that “it can’t be a free for all.”
The top court asked the Center to draft set of rules and guidelines for regulating online media content while keeping in mind of not going the censorship way completely.
“We want to reach out to Union. See if you can draft something. All stakeholders can be invited, be brought in public domain. Lets have a discussion,” the court observed.
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