'India's Got Latent' Row | Supreme Court Issues Notice On YouTuber Ashish Chanchlani's Plea Against Multiple FIRs Over Obscenity Allegations

The Supreme Court on Friday (February 21) issued notice on YouTuber Ashish Chanchalani's plea against the multiple FIRs registered for the offence of obscenity over the remarks made during an episode of the "India's Got Latent" show.

The petitioner seeks the clubbing of the FIRs registered in Guwahati and Mumbai and transfer to Mumbai.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice to the respondents and tagged the matter along with the petition filed by co-accused Ranveer Allahabadia. 

Initially, Chanchlani moved the Gauhati High Court seeking anticipatory bail in connection with the Assam FIR. It was his case that the remarks for which the FIR was lodged were made by one of the guest panelists (Allahabadia) and that he had no role, authority or involvement in editing or post-production of the episode. Earlier this week, he was granted interim anticipatory bail by the High Court, which also directed him to appear before the Investigating Officer within 10 days.

To recapitulate, the remarks objected to were part of an episode of comedian Samay Raina's Youtube show "India's Got Latent". YouTube celebrities Ranveer Allahabadia, Ashish Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh and Apoorva Makhija were part of this episode.

When video clips from the episode went viral on social media, they created huge outrage and Allahabadia and Raina attracted mass criticism. Later, Raina issued a public apology and deleted all episodes of India's Got Latent from his YouTube channel. Allahabadia, on his part, issued a public apology, admitting that his comments were inappropriate.

On February 10, Assam police registered an FIR against 5 YouTubers and content creators for “promoting obscenity and engaging in sexually explicit and vulgar discussion". 

This FIR invoked Sections – 79 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 95 (Hiring, employing or engaging a child to commit an offence), 294 (Sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.) & 296 (Obscene acts and songs) BNS read with Section 67 of IT Act, 2000 (punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material electronically), read with Section 4/7 of Cinematograph Act 1952 read with Section 4/6 of ⁠Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.

It was lodged on the complaint of one Alok Boruah, who alleged that Chanchlani, Jaspreet Singh, Apoorva Mukhija, Allahabadia, Raina and others promoted obscenity and engaged in sexually explicit and vulgar discussion in the show.

Since then, the Maharashtra Cyber Department and Jaipur Police are also reported to have registered cases in connection with the controversy.

Notably, on the same day that Chanchlani got relief from Gauhati High Court, the Supreme Court granted interim protection from arrest to Allahabadia (popularly known as Beer Biceps) in the FIRs registered at Mumbai, Gauhati and Jaipur for the offence of obscenity over the remarks made in the subject episode. Issuing notice to the respondents (Union of India, State of Maharashtra and State of Assam) on Allahabadia's plea, the Court also sought the Union's comments on the "vacuum" in regulation of online content. Though the Court granted Allahabadia interim protection, Justice Surya Kant severely berated him for the language he used and described it as "dirty" and "perverted".

Appearance: Senior Advocate Ajay Tewari; Advocates Shubham Kulshreshtha, Apoorv Srivastava, Ashish Lalwani, Satya Rath, Amitabh Tewari, Dilmirig Nayani and Satvik Bansal; AoR Manju Jetley

Case Title: ASHISH ANIL CHANCHLANI Versus STATE OF GUWAHATI AND ANR., W.P.(Crl.) No. 85/2025

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