LATENT is the last word that would define the current quandary that surrounds the online internet sensation, ‘India’s Got Latent’ (hereinafter Latent). Currently, my LinkedIn is swarming with quick analysis posts deconstructing the jokes and the jokers of the latest episode. While the idea of a quick LinkedIn post is inviting, I decided to sit down as a patient lawyer and try and deep dive into this issue and get to the root of the legality of the issue at hand. As an advocate, I am concerned more about the legal aspects of the episode than the moral turpitude of the same which at the moment seems to be the headline everywhere.
In classic Supreme Court fashion, the issue at hand is one and only; is profanity equal to obscenity?
For the miniscule fraction of the population who might not know what this article is all about; this is about the statements made by Ranveer Allahbadia a.k.a Beer Biceps which has disturbed both viewers and non-viewers of Latent. This piece borrows heavily from the recent judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Apoorva Arora and Anr., v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) & Anr., 2024 INSC 223, where the Hon’ble court quashed the FIR against Apoorva Arora and others following allegations of obscenity in her web series, ‘College Romance.’ The Latent situation and the Apoorva Arora case have a lot in common; both are a result of the internet’s alacrity towards cancel culture.
