New Delhi, July 14, 2026: The Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a cost of Rs 3 lakh on comedian Samay Raina, observing that he had "taken the Court for a ride" by failing to honour undertakings given during proceedings related to the India's Got Latent controversy over insensitive jokes targeting persons with disabilities.
The Court imposed the same cost on comedians Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar and Nishant Jagadish Tanwar.
The comedians had earlier assured the Court that they would rectify their conduct by organising special shows highlighting the achievements of persons with disabilities and raising funds for the treatment of people with rare diseases.
Court Pulls Up Comedians
Expressing displeasure over Raina's conduct, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana observed, "We have no reason to doubt that Samay Raina has taken the Court for a ride. He is in brazen violation of statements/undertakings given before this Court."
The bench also noted that Raina attempted to explain the delay by claiming a compliance affidavit had been filed, although none was on record, Live Law reported.
"The misconduct is sought to be compounded by stating that compliance affidavit was filed yesterday, however, no affidavit has been filed," the Court recorded.
The Court directed Raina to deposit Rs 3 lakh within two weeks and granted him 15 days to file a compliance affidavit, warning that coercive action would follow in case of non-compliance.
Foundation Not Contacted
During the hearing, Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh submitted that despite earlier directions, Raina had neither contacted the Cure SMA Foundation nor people suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
She argued that his conduct reflected disregard for the Court's orders and added that the Foundation did not want even a single penny from him or the other comedians.
"I don't know what kind of an icon he is for the youth... I shudder to think if he is regarded as an icon by the youth," Singh remarked.
"Our youth has better icons..." responded Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
The Chief Justice commented that they are "self-proclaimed icons."
Mehta also informed the Court that Raina had launched India's Got Latent Season 2 and began the show by hanging "nimbu-mirchi" at the start.
"Recently, he started a new show. He said now at the beginning, I am doing something which I didn't do in last series. He hangs nimbu and mirchi. He did not name anyone, but it was quite visible. I did not want to go into it but if he (Samay Raina) has not contacted SMA Foundation/persons suffering from SMA..." the Solicitor General said.
The Solicitor General further objected to the use of the term "disabled persons" in the comedians' affidavits, saying the appropriate expression is "specially abled persons".
Strong Court Observations
After hearing the submissions, the Court initially directed the comedians to deposit Rs 10 lakh as costs. It later imposed a uniform cost of Rs 3 lakh on each of the five comedians, reducing the amount from Rs 5 lakh.
Making strong observations on public conduct, Chief Justice Surya Kant said, "In public life, the more you respect others, the more respect you earn. You don't humiliate people."
When counsel for the comedians submitted that the failure to contact the SMA Foundation was not driven by ego and assured the Court that they would advise their clients to comply, the Chief Justice responded, "Today's order has been invited by respondents. We have been granting liberty. We thought that you are youngsters belonging to respectable families."
Referring specifically to Raina's conduct, the Chief Justice added, "They think sitting outside the country they are beyond jurisdiction. Let them suffer now. If this is not arrogance, then we have to change Oxford dictionary also."
