00:00We're beginning the bulletin with breaking news that's now coming in.
00:04This is with regards to Supreme Court now pulling up comics.
00:07This is stand-up comics for mocking specially abled.
00:12The SC observers have observed and has said that commercial speech isn't free speech.
00:19Bare biceps in Samayarayana has been pulled up by the SC again
00:24and the Supreme Court has come out to say there is guidelines needed at this given point
00:29for social media language.
00:31This is the big breaking that we're bringing to you.
00:33A social responsibility that comes with free speech
00:38especially for personalities of the kind that we're speaking of.
00:42Stand-up comedians who in fact end up having a large audience, a large fan base.
00:48They have to be more careful.
00:50There needs to be a set of guidelines which will be in place to check what the borderline will be.
00:57Draw a red line for them which will not be crossed and in fact go on the other side
01:03when we speak of these very comments that are coming in from them
01:07that may in fact end up being vulgar at some point.
01:12So that line needs to be drawn at this given point.
01:15That is what the Supreme Court has come out to say.
01:17They've been pulled up.
01:19The stand-up comics have been pulled up.
01:20We've seen only in the past months there has been a huge uproar over a certain set
01:26that was done by these group of comedians on a show
01:29which had caused a huge uproar in the nation with regards to the things they had said
01:33in that very set of theirs on the show
01:35which in fact did not go down well with the public.
01:39And social responsibility is what needs to be looked at.
01:43Anisha Mathur joining me from the newsroom at this given point.
01:45Anisha, very good afternoon to you.
01:47You know the court has come out to say that there needs to be a set of guidelines.
01:51What will in fact define what is funny and not foul?
01:55That difference needs to be drawn somewhere.
01:57That is what the court seems to be saying.
01:59Please put it into further context and give us some more details.
02:03Well, see if you look at what has been happening in the Supreme Court
02:06in this comedians matter for the last several months,
02:08the Supreme Court has said that this is not...
02:11First of all, the big takeaway from today's hearing
02:14is the court drawing a line between free speech and commercial speech.
02:18The court has very clearly said that these comedians who are using these platforms to earn money,
02:24this is not free speech.
02:26They are not protected by free speech laws.
02:29This is commercial speech.
02:31And therefore, when there is an intersection between commercial speech and prohibited speech
02:36which is hurting somebody, these people must be hauled up.
02:40And that is why the court has asked them now to display an apology
02:44on their social media posts, on their YouTube channels.
02:47They've also warned of a financial penalty that will be there.
02:50But most importantly, the court has asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
02:55to set up some sort of guidelines which will regulate the language that is used.
02:59Remember, initially the matter had come up when Ranveer Alavadiya's comedy sketch about parents
03:07had gone viral and had created a lot of uproar.
03:10Then Samai Rayana's joke about persons with disabilities
03:14prompted parents of children who have spinal muscular atrophy
03:18to come to the Supreme Court saying that their children,
03:21their disabilities are being actively mocked,
03:23which is what prompted the court to say today
03:27that you cannot use humour to hurt people.
03:30That is not where humour lies.
03:33In fact, I'm going to just read out the comment that the court has made.
03:37Justice Joy Malia Baggi, in fact, said that humour is a part of life.
03:41We can laugh at ourselves, but when we start laughing at others,
03:45and apathide claims are made on humour,
03:47that humour is generated to hurt persons, that causes a problem.
03:54Influencers must realise that when you commercialise speech,
03:59then the community at large cannot be used to hurt people or hurt sections of society.
04:05So very clearly the court now asking the IMB ministry to create guidelines.
04:10The court also noting that news media, traditional media as it is,
04:14is governed under press laws as well as the NBDSA and other organisations
04:20which regulate speech made on news media.
04:23But when it comes to social media, it is completely unregulated
04:26and that's why the court has now asked for guidelines to be made
04:29and for these persons in particular to put out an apology
04:33and tell the court what they will do to sort of raise awareness about these children as well.
04:39Back to you.
04:39Right, right.
04:40Anisha, I have two questions for you here at this point.
04:44Number one being, just for the clarity of our viewers,
04:47we are speaking of two kinds of speech here, commercial speech and free speech.
04:51How are we defining this and what exactly lies in the ambit of free speech
04:56which in fact does not end up protecting these comedians
05:00and the kind of comments they end up making in their sets?
05:04See, when you look at how commercial speech is defined,
05:07we've seen the Supreme Court and High Court verdicts coming in
05:10when it comes to movies, when it comes to documentaries, etc.
05:15Anything that is used to earn money and influence persons,
05:19it can be counted within commercial speech.
05:22And there are guidelines, there are judgments of the Supreme Court.
05:25In fact, today's hearing also, the court had cited the judgment in the Ajay Devgan case
05:33where movies were counted as commercial speech and not free speech.
05:37And therefore, the Supreme Court had in multiple cases said that there are certain kinds of language
05:43that should not be used when there is commercial speech,
05:47that there are certain responsibilities and restrictions that have to be there.
05:51In fact, that is where the Cinematograph Act, for that matter, censorship comes in
05:57because this is commercial speech, this is not free speech.
06:00So therefore, if you're earning from it, then you can be held responsible to the larger public
06:05that you shouldn't create something that either hurts someone or causes some disputes
06:10or causes inter-religious or inter-caste disputes.
06:14Right, Anisha.
06:15Thank you for bringing us those details and in fact defining what commercial and free speech respectively is.
06:21Viewers, this is all the update that we have so far on this very story
06:26and we'll keep a close track as the day proceeds.
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