Plight of Standup Comedians in India: An Analysis of Article 19 in Era of Comedians

Introduction

Recently Anubhav Bassi gathered controversy due to a petition alleging that his recent show “Bas Kar Bassi” portrayed the judiciary negatively. However, the controversy could not carry much weight as the Hon’ble Court rejected the plea and held that “There Are Better Things To Do”.

This entire matter against the stand-up comedian dodges a legal mind. The country guarantees the right to speech, but is it equally liberal for stand-up comedians or does a set of dogmatic regimes work against them?

Thus presenting a legal analysis on the topic, Plight of Standup Comedians in India: An analysis of Article 19 in Era of Comedians

Stand-Up Comedy and Freedom of Speech

“Stand-up comedy as an art form has been known as one of the most powerful forms of expression to speak truth to power. In India, political satire as stand-up is highly popular”.

However, there is a serious gap in recognizing them. All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression. It secures to all the citizens, liberty of thought and expression. However, comedians have often been subjected to harassment and are fallen victim to Defamation clauses, sedition, etc. It is the oral or written communication of a false statement about another that unjustly harms their reputation and usually constitutes a tort or crime.

“You probably laugh at a statement made by them because you know that it is fictional”. But this clause is generally ignored and fury of legal actions are obvious repercussions.

In Faruqui's case, the right-winged took the offense and was sent to jail and further made to apologize. The mental trauma of a comedian in India is more cumbersome than his own toil on the particular script.

Another, case that gathers equal turmoil is of Vir Das, he had to apologize for expressing his thoughts on an international platform. He had to do that because a group of powerful people got offended by his words.

These apologies bewilder the mind, as to where the constitutional embargo stand. Is the freedom of speech shrinking with time? Every word spoken by comedians about society should not be considered slander. This is because otherwise, we will land into only elocutions rather than original bold satires.

The audacious undertones of satire aimed at inciting disharmony need to be distinguished from a satirical comic piece.

Judicial Approach to the Conundrum

In the Netflix drama, Hasmukh, the Delhi high court had recognized that satire as “an art form would fall under the ambit of the artist's freedom of speech and expression”. Despite the said judgment, stand-up comics continued to be embroiled in opposing backlashes by society.

In the case of S. Rangarajan v. P. Jagjivan Ram, the Supreme Court recognized that democracy provides “the people with a right to discuss and share their views on various governmental affairs”. In Queen-Empress v. Jogendra Chunder Bose, the Court laid down “the elements of the section to constitute the premeditation to excite feelings of ill-will, hatred, and contempt against the government”.

Furthermore, in the case of Ashutosh Dubey v. Netflix, the Delhi High Court held that

“a stand-up comedian is known to highlight a particular point and exaggerate the same to the extent that it becomes satire and a comedy. People do not view the comments or jokes made by them as a statement of truth and take them with a pinch of salt.”

But the flood of litigations on comedians indicates that their comics are considered black letters of authority because their humor is punished. This entire scenario is brutal and barbaric to freedom of speech.

Towards the Conclusion

As the Courts at various times had stipulated that “the unity of this country is an assumption of tolerance and a symbiosis of diversity”, but in essence the present audience platform is highly intolerable to comics.

According to Prof. Amartya Sen, “The prospect of peace in the contemporary world lies in the recognition of plurality of our affiliations rather than living as inmates incarcerated in little containers. Freedom of speech and expression contributes to the richness and equilibrium of the country”.

Pluralism nurtures freedom of speech and thus a very democratic feeling to celebrate. Our society too needs to work on this line, when it comes to Stand Up comedians, they shouldn’t be denied a liberal platform to speak and express!