New Delhi:
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has issued a new hearing date for ‘India’s Got Latent’ Youtubers including Ranveer Allahbadia and Samay Raina after they failed to appear in response to its summons regarding crass remarks made on their show. The women’s panel had summoned Ranveer Allahabadia, Samay Raina, Apoorva Mukhija, Jaspreet Singh, Ashish Chanchlani, Tushar Poojari, Saurabh Bothra and Balraj Ghai, to appear before it today at noon.
However, all the creators failed to appear before the panel citing concerns over personal safety, prior travel commitments, and other logistical challenges.
Ranveer Allahbadia, citing death threats had requested the commission to postpone the hearing for three weeks. He has now been summoned before the panel on March 6. Similarly, Apoorva Mukhija had expressed safety concerns and requested the panel to appear virtually. However, the panel denied her request and issued a fresh date of March 6 to appear before it.
Samay Raina, who is currently on a pre-planned tour to the US, assured the commission that he will appear for a hearing once he returns to India. The commission accepted his request and rescheduled the hearing for March 11. Comedian Jaspreet Singh is also on a pre-planned tour in Paris and will return by March 10. He has also been asked to appear before the panel on March 11.
Ashish Chanchlani, whose lawyer appeared on his behalf citing illness, has been granted a rescheduled hearing on March 6.
Producer of the show ‘India’s Got Latent’, Balraj Ghai, informed the commission that he is currently out of India and will respond once he returns. To this, the commission has rescheduled the hearing on March 11. The other two producers – Tushar Poojari and Saurabh Bothra – did not respond to the summons, drawing condemnation from the panel. They have been summoned again to reappear on March 6.
Additionally, Maharashtra Cyber Cell had asked Raina to record his statement in person on February 18. However, since the YouTuber is on a tour in the US, he filed a petition saying he would not be able to return to India before March 17. The Cyber Cell has refused the petition.
‘India’s Got Latent’ row
A huge row broke out after YouTuber and podcaster Ranveer Allahbadia, known as ‘BeerBiceps’, made distasteful comments about parents and sex on Raina’s show ‘India’s Got Latent’. The remarks sparked massive outrage, leading to multiple complaints against the social media personality.
Earlier this week, teams of Mumbai and Assam police visited Allahbadia’s home to record his statement, but they found it locked. A day later, Allahbadia issued a statement on social media saying he has been cooperating with the police and all other authorities and “will be available to all the agencies”. He also mentioned that he has been getting death threats.
Raina also issued a statement saying he had removed all videos of the show from his channel and was “fully cooperating” with the authorities. “Everything that has been happening has been too much for me to handle. I have removed all India’s Got Latent videos from my channel. My only objective was to make people laugh and have a good time. I will fully cooperate with all agencies to ensure their inquiries are concluded fairly. Thank you,” he said.
