The Supreme Court on Friday closed all criminal proceedings against comedian Samay Raina and four others, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Sonali Thakkar, also known as Sonali Aditya Desai, and Nishant Jagdish Tanwar, over remarks made about persons with disabilities on the show India's Got Latent. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, passed the order after finding that the group had made genuine efforts to comply with directions issued earlier in the case.
The case traces back to a November 2024 episode of the show, recorded in Mumbai, in which remarks were made that trivialised the cost of treating Spinal Muscular Atrophy and mocked persons living with disabilities. The Cure SMA India Foundation approached the Supreme Court over the segment, arguing that it caused real harm to a community already facing barriers most people never have to think about.
The bench had earlier, in July 2025, imposed costs of three lakh rupees on each of the five respondents after finding gaps in how quickly they met its directions. Since then, the group organised a chess tournament for persons with disabilities in Pune, scheduled four additional fundraising shows, and put toward medical aid and financial assistance for SMA patients funds the court was told totalled around twelve and a half crore rupees raised through these events.
Recognising that record, the bench closed the specific criminal cases against all five. It did not close the file entirely, though. The judges kept the broader matter pending so they can weigh suggestions on building stronger safeguards for online content, aimed at protecting the dignity of persons with disabilities from being reduced to a punchline.