In a big relief for Ranveer Allahbadia, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed his arrest in the raging India's Got Latent case, but not without a giving him a earful. The apex court came down heavily on the YouTuber for his "perverted" comments on the show, and also ordered him to cooperate with the investigation.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh heard Ranveer's writ petition to club multiple FIRs against him on Tuesday (February 18), and granted him interim protection from arrest, but on the condition that he would fully cooperate with the investigation officers and also not participate in similar shows until further orders.
The bench also asked him to submit his passport at the Thane police station and not leave India without prior permission from court.
During the hearing, the bench rapped Ranveer for his "sex with parents" remark on India's Got Latent and asked his counsel, Abhinav Chandrachud, if he was "defending such kind of language".
"If this is not obscenity, then what is obscenity? There is something very dirty in his mind, which has been vomited by him in the program... He is insulting parents also. Why should the Courts favour him?," Justice Kant asked.
He went on to say that "sisters and daughters will feel ashamed" by the words used by Ranveer. "Entire society will feel shamed. It shows a perverted mind. What embarrassment he has caused to parents!," he said.
When Ranveer's advocate argued that the Youtuber has been receiving incessant threats online, Justice Kant commented, "If you can try to attain cheap publicity by saying these kind of things, there might be others also who might want to get cheap publicity by making threats."
What is the India's Got Latent controversy?
For those still unversed, the entire fiasco erupted when Ranveer appeared on Samay Raina's show, India's Got Latent, as a guest. During a segment, he asked a contestant, ""Would you rather watch your parents have sex for the rest of your life, or would you join in once and stop it forever?"
The supposed joke was not received well by netizens, who then bashed him left, right and centre, and demanded strict action against him for "promoting vulgarity and obscenity online".
Multiple FIRs were lodged against Ranveer -- one in Maharashtra and one in Guwahati -- even after he issued an unconditional apology and said that there had been a serious lapse in his judgement.
Ranveer Allahbadia goes MIA
Post issuing the apology, Ranveer allegedly went missing and as cops tried to reach out to him regarding the complaints and FIRs, they found his phone switched off and his house locked.
The YouTuber later issued another statement mentioning that while he is ready to cooperate with the police, he is not okay with the threats that not just him but his family members too were being subjected to.
"I'm watching death threats pour in from people saying that they want to kill me and hurt my family. People have invaded my mother's clinic posing as patients. I'm feeling scared and I don't know what to do. But I'm not running away. I have full faith in the police and the judicial system of India," he stated.
