‘We should understand our social…’: Ashwini Vaishnaw cautions comedians, content creators amid India Got Latent row

Days after comedian Samay Raina appeared before the Guwahati Crime Branch regarding his YouTube show 'India's Got Latent', Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasised the need to understand social responsibility.

Speaking at an event, Vaishnaw said, according to a CNN News18 report, “We are all living in a particular cultural context. We are all having friends, neighbours, children, everybody is connected with each other.”

Commenting on content creation, especially comedy and jokes, the I&B minister said, "We must as users of technology, whether we are content creators or we are consumers of technology, we should understand what is our responsibility and we should try to be.... I would say, as a citizens or user, we should try and see what my whole boundary should be. I should be able to define that and work within that."

"If you are in your own living room with 4-5 persons, those jokes would be very different from a platform where you are basically broadcasting to the entire world what you want to say. Then we must understand that we are living in a social context. I would say that we should understand that as a social responsibility," he added.

Samay Raina and India's Got Latent row

On April 6, comedian Samay Raina appeared before the Guwahati Crime Branch regarding a case filed against him for allegedly promoting obscenity and vulgar content through his YouTube show 'India's Got Latent'.

He had earlier informed the Guwahati police that he wouldn't be able to appear before them since he was out of India for his comedy tour.

However, he later visited the Guwahati Crime Branch to record his statement by the investigating officer.

The Guwahati police on February 10 had registered an FIR against YouTubers and social Influencers, namely Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Makhija, Ranveer Allahbadia, Samay Raina and others, for promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussion in the show titled "India's Got Latent".

The Guwahati Crime Branch had registered the case under various sections of the IT Act, Cinematograph Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

Youtuber Ashish Chanchlani, influencer Apoorva Makhija, podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, comedian Samay Raina, and others also appeared before the Guwahati Crime Branch to record their statements.

With agency inputs.