Relief for Ranveer Allahbadia, Supreme Court orders release of YouTuber's passport amid India's Got Latent row

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the release of YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia's passport amid the ongoing controversy over his India's Got Latent remarks row, enabling him to travel abroad for work.

Allahbadia, popularly known as BeerBiceps, was booked for his comments on parents and sex on comic Samay Raina's YouTube show.

The bench asked Allahbadia to approach the Maharashtra cyber police bureau for the return of his passport.

What did the Supreme Court say?

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh relaxed the condition after the Assam and Maharashtra governments said their investigation against the podcaster was complete.

The top court also told senior advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, appearing for Ranveer Allahbadia, that it would consider his prayer to club the FIRs against his client and bring them together at the next hearing.

On February 18, the top court protected Ranveer Allahbadia from arrest in multiple FIRs filed over his comments during a YouTube show. It directed him to deposit his passport with the investigating officer of the Police Station Nodal Cyber Police, Thane.

The top court on March 3 allowed Allahbadia to resume his podcast “The Ranveer Show” subject to maintaining “morality and decency” and making it suitable for viewers of all ages.

The apex court had initially restrained Allahbadia from airing any programme of his podcast which had a direct or an indirect bearing on the merits of the sub-judice cases he was involved in.

On February 18, the top court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahbadia while calling his comments "vulgar" and saying he had a "dirty mind" which put the society to shame.

In addition to Ranveer Allahbadia and Samay Raina, comics Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, and Apoorva Makhija are named in the case in Assam.

(With agency inputs)