Should bad comedy become a matter of national policing? Shiv Aroor shares his take

India Today

The Supreme Court's scrutiny of a joke made by podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia on Samay Raina's show has sparked debate on legal priorities.

Transcript

00:00As the Supreme Court

00:03takes a very dark view

00:06on podcaster Ranveer Alabadia

00:09for a joke that he cracked

00:12on YouTuber Samai Raina's show.

00:15Friends, today we must ask ourselves

00:18what does it say about India's legal priorities

00:21when the police forces in Maharashtra, Assam

00:24and Rajasthan are hunting down a content creator

00:27as though he were a fugitive of the highest order?

00:30What does it say about the state of our judiciary

00:33when the Supreme Court, burdened with over 5 crore

00:36pending cases, including 83,000 of its own

00:39finds the time to take offence at a filthy

00:42joke on an online comedy show?

00:45Let me be clear, this is not about endorsing

00:48tasteless humour. Ranveer Alabadia's

00:51remarks made on Samai Raina's show India's Got Latent

00:54show, known for its shock and cringe comedy

00:57laced with disgusting expletives, were not

01:00to anyone's liking. They were crude, they were inappropriate

01:03and they were, in many ways, offensive.

01:06But should bad comedy, however distasteful, become

01:09a matter of national policing?

01:12Should it justify a multi-state police pursuit

01:15that treats a podcaster like a hardened criminal?

01:18Or is there something more at play here?

01:22I am genuinely asking. It's not a loaded question.

01:25It is hard to ignore the disturbing pattern

01:28of selective outrage and selective law enforcement.

01:31This is not the first time Samai Raina's

01:34show has featured humour that pushes boundaries of

01:37so-called decency. So why, out of all

01:40the content that has already aired, has this

01:43particular clip of Ranveer making

01:46a horrible, disgusting joke triggered the highest

01:49levels of legal scrutiny in the country?

01:52The machinery of the state does not simply

01:55lurch into motion without reason.

01:58Of course, one can explain it away, given Ranveer

02:01Alabadia's enormous reach and popularity, as also

02:04Samai Raina's, they are some of the most watched

02:07content creators in the country. But they are

02:10hardly the only Indian influencers or comics

02:13using obscene language or saying shocking things

02:17to their audiences. It seems to many that this

02:20incident is being used as a pretext, a

02:23convenient test case to set a precedent for

02:26something far bigger. Perhaps an attempt to

02:29normalise state intervention in online content to

02:32ease the way for broader censorship, whether on

02:35YouTube or on OTT. And how do you sell

02:38censorship to the public? By choosing a case

02:41that nobody instinctively wants to defend. By

02:44targeting a piece of content that is so crude,

02:47so distasteful, that no one will stand up for

02:50its right to exist. The tactic is simple.

02:53First come for the voices that few will miss.

02:56Then once the precedent is set, it becomes easier

02:59to extend these powers to more voices, to all

03:02voices that inconvenience those in power.

03:06YouTube is filled with obscene jokes,

03:09profanity-laced rants, and even violent speech.

03:12In English, in Indian languages, in Bhojpuri,

03:15in Hindi, in Tamil, in Kannada, no matter what,

03:18there's a whole ocean of obscene content out

03:21there that nobody seems to have a problem with.

03:24Content that should shock the conscience of any

03:27viewer is easily accessible, often garnering

03:30millions of views without any quote-unquote

03:33consequence. And yet, amidst this vast ocean

03:36of offensive material, a relatively puerile

03:40joke has somehow managed to trigger the full

03:43might of the state. The sudden and

03:46disproportionate reaction demands scrutiny.

03:49Why now, and why this? If the concern is truly

03:52obscenity, then where has this moral outrage

03:55been hiding? Why does enforcement appear so

03:58selective, so targeted? The reality is,

04:01obscenity is not the real issue here.

04:04I think the real issue here is the

04:07control. This case is not about

04:10protecting public decency alone. It is about

04:13paving the way, perhaps, for state

04:16intervention in digital spaces. It is about

04:20setting a precedent that makes censorship more

04:23palatable by choosing a test case that is easy to

04:26vilify. This is not about one joke.

04:29This is about the broader principle of freedom of

04:32expression. It is about whether we as a

04:35country should be a guardian of freedom, even

04:38when it comes to protecting speech we

04:41personally dislike. The Supreme Court, which

04:44should be a guardian of rights, must ask itself

04:47whether it wishes to be regarded as a defender

04:50of constitutional values or as an enabler of

04:53state censorship. Law enforcement must

04:56refocus its priorities on genuine threats to

04:59public safety and justice rather than expending

05:03its time on a joke. Parliament must

05:06prioritise the millions of cases waiting for

05:09justice rather than acting as an arbiter of

05:12taste on YouTube. We, the people,

05:15viewer, must remain vigilant against the

05:18steady creeping in of censorship, however it is

05:21packaged, however it is sold. Some

05:24self-righteous members of Parliament have

05:27embarked on a crusade, using priceless

05:30resources, such as the BBC, the BBC, the

05:33BBC. I could fill a book with the

05:36things our Parliamentary time should rather be

05:39spent on, but who am I? I honestly don't think

05:43this is about Ranbir Alabadia. I must

05:46confess, I have never even seen his podcast, so

05:49I'm probably a small minority. I also think

05:52his joke betrays the juvenile desperation of a

05:55wannabe whose singular motivator is attention

05:58and attention. I'm not saying that we should

06:01give people the right to be offended and raise

06:04the issue in court if they must, but I'm

06:07wondering, viewer, don't our state authorities

06:10have more pressing issues to attend to, no

06:13matter what you think of beer, biceps or

06:16anybody around him and his BS? Just think

06:19about this for a moment.

Category

Transcript

Recommended