"If This Is Not Obscenity, Then What Is?” Supreme Court Slams YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia, Grants Interim Protection From Arrest

The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday (18 February) gave interim protection from arrest to YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia, also known as BeerBiceps, in relation to several FIRs registered against him in Mumbai, Guwahati, and Jaipur under charges of obscenity.

The FIRs are based on his comments on an episode of India's Got Latent, a YouTube program that brought huge public outrage.

LiveLaw reported that a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh granted the interim order while issuing notices to the respondents in Allahabadia's writ petition against the several FIRs.

The Court also ordered no further FIRs to be filed with regard to the same show. This relief, however, is subject to Allahabadia's cooperation in the investigation. He has also been granted the freedom to file police protection against threats.

The Court imposed further restrictions, stating that “the petitioner or his associates shall not air any other show till further orders.” Allahabadia has also been instructed to surrender his passport.

Despite granting interim relief, the bench was scathing in its criticism of Allahabadia’s language. Justice Kant did not mince words, stating, “There is something very dirty in his mind, which has been vomited by him in the programme... He is insulting his parents also. Why should the courts favour him?”

"The words which you have used, parents will feel shame. Sisters and daughters will feel ashamed. The entire society will feel ashamed. It shows a perverted mind," Justice Kant added.

Speaking on behalf of Allahabadia, Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud accepted that he disapproved of the choice of words but contended that it was not a criminal offense.

He drew reference to the Apoorva Arora case, which laid down that cursing in and of itself did not qualify as obscenity. But Justice Kant was not satisfied, responding with, "If this is not obscenity, then what is obscenity?"

The row broke out after excerpts from the episode involving Allahabadia, comedian Samay Raina, and other YouTubers Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Makhija went viral on social media.

After public outrage, Raina apologised and removed all episodes of India's Got Latent from his YouTube channel, and Allahabadia also publicly acknowledged that his remarks were inappropriate.

Legal action gathered steam as Guwahati Police lodged an FIR on 10 February against five content creators for supposedly "promoting obscenity and indulging in sexually explicit and vulgar conversations." Maharashtra Cyber Department and Jaipur Police have also filed cases.