Women’s panel summons Ranveer Allahbadia, Samay Raina, others over lewd jokes

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has summoned YouTubers Samay Raina, Ranveer Allahbadia, Ashish Chanchlani, Apoorva Mukhija, and others after their remarks made on the popular comedy show India Got Latent sparked a major controversy. The women’s panel has summoned them for a hearing in the matter at its New Delhi office on February 7.

The NCW summons came hours after the Maharashtra Police filed a case against the influencers in light of the lewd jokes cracked during one of the episodes of the comedy show, that triggered a huge public outcry. The case was registered after the cyber branch reviewed all the episodes of the show.

A day before, the Assam Police filed a case against YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia and comedian Samay Raina, among other influencers, for allegedly “promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussion”.

The Maharashtra Police has filed a case against 30 people, including Ranveer Allahbadia, Apoorva Mukhija, Samay Raina, Rakhi Sawant, Ashish Chanchlani, and, Balraj Ghai.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Monday hinted at action over the remarks, saying, “Everyone has freedom of speech, but our freedom ends when we encroach upon the freedom of others”.

WHAT IS THE MATTER?

Allahbadia sparked a row after he asked a sexually explicit comment to a contestant on the show.

As the backlash intensified, the National Human Rights Commission, in a letter to YouTube, asked for the removal of videos containing his remarks.

Allahbadia has also issued an apology, calling his remark “inappropriate” and saying that “comedy wasn’t his forte”.

“My comment wasn’t just inappropriate, it wasn’t even funny. Comedy is not my forte. I’m just here to say sorry. Many of you asked if this is how I wish to use my platform and, obviously, this is not how I wish to use it. I’m not going to give any context or justification or reasoning behind whatever happened,” he said.