Supreme Court seeks Samay Raina, other social media influencers in court, to “donize” with disability

Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh asked the Mumbai Police Chief to issue notices to five influencers to ensure their presence in the court, but failed to take any coercive action. File | Image source: Hindu

The Supreme Court seeks the presence of five social media influencers on Monday (May 5, 2025), including “potential” host Samay Raina, whose plea claims they laughed at people suffering from rare spinal muscle atrophy (SMA) during the show.

Justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh asked the Mumbai Police Chief to issue notices to five influencers to ensure their presence in the court, but failed to take any coercive action.

The bench also sought help from Attorney General R. Venkataramani on the PIL of the NGO “India Treatment SMA Foundation” to guide social media content on people with disabilities and patients with rare diseases.

The bench called influential people mocking people for being “harmful” and “frustrated” and said some serious remedial and punitive actions are needed to prevent these things from happening again.

The bench told senior defense attorney Aprajita Singh that it was some remedial and punitive action in the law.

The bench said the fundamental right to observe freedom of expression and freedom of expression is not absolute, so no one can demean anyone under the costume of rights and considers framework guidelines on social media content for people with disabilities and rare diseases.

NGOs have mentioned flaws in the existing legal framework and urged the bench to develop guidelines on online content.