The Supreme Court has issued a notice on Ashish Chanchlani’s plea against multiple FIRs related to his involvement in the controversial “India’s Got Latent” show, seeking the clubbing of FIRs from Guwahati and Mumbai.
The Supreme Court on Friday, February 21, issued notice on a plea filed by YouTuber Ashish Chanchlani against multiple FIRs lodged against him over his involvement in the controversial “India’s Got Latent” show. The plea seeks the clubbing of FIRs registered in Guwahati and Mumbai, requesting that the case be transferred to Mumbai.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued the notice to the states of Maharashtra and Assam, tagging it with the plea filed by co-accused YouTuber Ranveer Allahabadia. Both creators were involved in the controversy surrounding the episode, where remarks made during the show sparked widespread outrage on social media.
Earlier this week, Chanchlani was granted interim anticipatory bail by the Gauhati High Court, which directed him to appear before the Investigating Officer within 10 days. The episode in question featured YouTubers Ashish Chanchlani, Ranveer Allahabadia, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Makhija and contained sexually explicit and vulgar remarks that created a social media uproar. Following the backlash, Allahabadia and Samay Raina, the show’s host, issued public apologies. Raina also deleted all episodes of India’s Got Latent from his YouTube channel.
On February 10, Assam police filed an FIR against five YouTubers and content creators, including Chanchlani, accusing them of promoting obscenity. The FIR invoked several legal sections, including those related to obscene acts, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, and the IT Act. The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Alok Boruah, who alleged that the show engaged in vulgar discussions.
In addition to Assam, Maharashtra Cyber Cell and Jaipur Police have also registered cases in connection with the controversy. Chanchlani, in his plea, argued that the offensive remarks were made by Allahabadia and that he had no involvement in the editing or post-production of the episode.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to Allahabadia, who has also been named in FIRs from Mumbai, Guwahati, and Jaipur. The Court is also looking into the lack of regulation regarding online content, which has contributed to such incidents.
