The Insta court is now in session: Will Instagram fury now trump due procedure of law?

At a recent crowdwork show by comedian Pranit More what began as an attempt at audience banter quickly spiralled into a controversy that would play out far beyond the comedy stage In a nowdeleted video posted by More an audience member identified as Himashu Jangra described a date in explicitly transactional terms suggesting that because he had paid R370 for a biryani he expected sex in return Rather than shutting down the remarks More appeared to encourage the exchange drawing laughs from sections of the crowdWithin hours of the clip being posted on Morersquos account with 38 lakh followers outrage erupted across Instagram Users condemned both the audience memberrsquos comments and the comedianrsquos handling of the situation The backlash snowballed through reposts reaction videos and angry comment sections More eventually deleted the video but by then the damage was doneHimashu Jangra and Pranit MoreJangra was swiftly fired from his job with the CEO of his company putting out a video stating that there had been no workplace complaints from Jangrarsquos female colleagues The Maharashtra Cyber Police on Thursday registered an FIR against the comedian Pranit More and two others over allegedly obscene and objectionable content circulated on social media platformsThe incident is only the latest example of a growing phenomenon Instagramrsquos transformation from a social media platform into a public courtroom Increasingly allegations leaked chats viral videos and personal testimonies are bypassing traditional gatekeepers of justice and heading straight to the court of public opinion And once the Internet delivers its verdict the consequences can be swift public and often irreversibleKrishna Agarwal has spent three years in the comedy circuit as both a comedian and host He does not deny the problematic material on stage ldquoItrsquos very rare that there is no problematic or misogynistic comic in an eventrdquo he says ldquoSince my initial days of hosting there are always a few comics in every event who will go around a sensitive topic and hit below the beltrdquoAgarwal recalls having to intervene from the stage when jokes crossed a line While comics often argue that viral clips strip away context he believes the defence does not always hold up ldquoSince we live in the age of digital media it is bound to happen And in most cases itrsquos usually not so much out of contextrdquo he says Pointing to the More controversy he argues that additional context would have changed little ldquoIf you had more context the reaction would still be the same In fact people are more outraged by watching the full videordquoWhile he acknowledges that social media has become ldquosort of a public courtroomrdquo he sees value in that shift ldquoThese are grassroots problems which come to limelightrdquo he says Public scrutiny he argues forces society to confront misogyny that might otherwise remain invisible ldquoPeople would be aware that more feminism is required and stronger opinions against such problematic people or misogynists are required in this contextrdquoLongtime comedian Sharul Channa shares that social media has transformed comedy into an algorithm game where attention often matters more than craft ldquoEverybody wants to become viral Thatrsquos all it is Itrsquos a game about virality Itrsquos nothing to do with the standup craft at allrdquo she says arguing that rage bait and controversial clips are often rewarded with shares and followers And sometimes public outrageShe is particularly critical of the practice of posting audience members online ldquoYoursquore not protecting your audience members yoursquore putting a camera on their faces Yoursquore literally putting them in the spotlightrdquo she says While she believes Jangrarsquos remarks warranted consequences she does not think losing his job was one of them ldquoHe should have written an apology sent out an apology videordquo Instead she argues ldquoHe became a social media scapegoat and this responsibility lies with Pranit More You canrsquot be egoistic about it And you need every profession to have empathy Unfortunately when you get stuck in the whole egoistic game yoursquore gonna burn your hands and thatrsquos the truth here as wellrdquolsquoIndian Internet is quite black and whitersquoParth Kelkar an Internet commentator says that More and Jangra are not facing the same consequenceInternet commentator and film critic Parth Kelkar sees a distinction between the consequences faced by More and those faced by audience member Jangra For creators with massive online followings he argues controversies are often temporary setbacks ldquoFor someone like Pranit More whose alternate account also has ten lakh followers going quiet for six months with an elaborate apology is not a big dealrdquo he says ldquoThe Internet loves a comeback story whether they are a bad person or notrdquoJangrarsquos case however is different ldquoHe didnrsquot say anything on the Internet It just happened to go on the Internet because technically Pranit posted itrdquo Kelkar points out Yet he believes the backlash from Jangrarsquos employer was justified For Kelkar employers have a responsibility to consider workplace safety ldquoHe works at a place where there are other women as well Any employer should protect their employees Workplace and personal lives are different but you are the same person inherentlyrdquo he saysAt the same time he notes that social mediarsquos role is complicated ldquoThe Internet that is the jury and the Internet that is the judge are two separate thingsrdquo he says ldquoItrsquos very easy to judge Which is why whenever something like this happens people me included make a video on it because things on the Indian Internet are quite black and white and itrsquos easy to draw that line in between There are a lot of other grey issues in our country but this instance was not one of themrdquolsquoThere needs to be a legal procedurersquoTejaswini Gupta a law student speaks about filing a complaint with NCW about Morersquos content long before the Rs 370 controversyI am not happy about the social media trial at all Everything should have gone through a legal procedurerdquo says Tejaswini Gupta a secondyear law student who had raised concerns about Pranit Morersquos content long before the R370 Biryani controversy erupted onlineWorking with the NGO ZERA Gupta had previously approached the National Commission for Women regarding content from Morersquos show Ashleel Show Her concerns she says extended beyond a single viral moment ldquoMy complaint is not limited to one cliprdquo she explains ldquoIt was about the normalisation of sexually explicit conversations remarks about women and audience interactions that appeared to involve minors in a publicly accessible formatrdquo However the response she received from NCW directed her toward a process requiring details of specific affected individuals leaving broader publicinterest concerns unaddressedYet despite her criticism of the content Gupta believes accountability should come through established legal channels ldquoThey should definitely apologise for what they said and did But if you have a problem then you should scrutinise the situationrdquo she says While she believes people have every right to condemn an individualrsquos actions or mindset she is uncomfortable with social media determining punishments ldquoYou cannot fire someone over a Reelrdquo she argues stressing that public condemnation and legal accountability are not the samelsquoBacklash is welldeserved Play stupid games win stupid prizesrsquoPurva Chopdekar has often been a part of uncomfortable standup audiences and feels that mob justice is quite satisfyingPurva Chopdekar a 22yearold who has been to open mic events raises questions about the audience memberrsquos remarks along with the duty of the comedian on stage ldquoI feel like it is the hostrsquos responsibility to stop it because if they donrsquot intervene and call that out you basically know yoursquore okay with that mindset among your audiencerdquo she says ldquoWe should be doing better as a societyrdquoComedian Sharul Channa says that the game of virality online has led to rage bait and trashy content as well PICASHISH RAJEUnlike some who believe the backlash went too far she has little sympathy for the audience member losing his job ldquoPlay stupid games and win stupid prizesrdquo she says Whether the story was true or fabricated she found the sense of entitlement disturbing ldquoIf he was my coworker I would not feel safe around him after that videordquo she says adding that accountability for such attitudes is often lacking particularly for men ldquoThatrsquos why I think this Instagram treatment of them is welldeservedrdquolsquoCompanies have right to terminatersquoA corporate lawyer points out that if a companyrsquos image is hampered that employee can be fired depending on their policy on reputational harmThe decision to fire an employee after a wave of public outrage makes us wonder if Instagram acts as prosecutor jury and judge and can companies rely on that verdict According to a corporate lawyer who would prefer to be anonymous the answer depends less on social media sentiment and more on the terms of employment and company policyldquoCompanies have the right to terminate employment which is usually a part of the contractrdquo she explains Most employment agreements contain clauses allowing either party to end the relationship through notice while others permit termination for misconduct ldquoCompanies also typically have a code of conduct which often includes things like bringing disrepute to the companyrdquo she saysThat means employers may legally act if they believe an employeersquos conduct has harmed the organisationrsquos reputation However each case must be examined on its own facts At no point did he disclose the name of the employer Since the comments were made in a personal capacity rather than as a company representative whether termination was justified would ultimately depend on the organisationrsquos policies and how they define reputational harmlsquoEmployers should not police every public opinionrsquoShweta Sikchi Founder of Nexora HR Consultancy questions if Jangrarsquos termination was based on a company policy breach or the public outrageTermination solely on public outrage is a risky precedentrdquo says Shweta Sikchi founder of Nexora HR Consultancy weighing in on the debate surrounding the firing of audience member Himashu Jangra after the Pranit More controversyWhile social media backlash can place immense pressure on employers Sikchi argues that companies must distinguish between online outrage and actual policy violations ldquoEthical violation will require that an employeersquos online conduct is violating company policy promoting harassment or damaging the companyrsquos imagerdquo she says ldquoIf the decision is solely based on the dissent of social media then I would ethically question itrdquoIn todayrsquos digital landscape she acknowledges that an employeersquos online presence matters because workers are often viewed as representatives of their organisations However she cautions against allowing public sentiment alone to dictate employment decisions ldquoEmployers should be careful not to police every personal opinion expressed outside the workspacerdquo she saysEven if an employee has a clean record at work consequences for public conduct may still follow Yet according to Sikchi any termination should be backed by a clear investigation and policy breach Otherwise the employee may have grounds to legally challenge the decisionlsquoI filter myself out a lot on the stagersquoKaviraj Singh a comedian calls out the harsh treatment of More and Jangra as unwarrantedNot everyone is comfortable with Instagramrsquos growing role as judge and jury Comedian Kaviraj Singh has spent a decade in standup and has had his own experience with mob justiceldquoPunishment should not be done by people otherwise we are just living in a jungle Itrsquos the job of the lawrdquo he says ldquoFiling an FIR is a much better way to handle it to let the law take care of itrdquo While he agrees that Jangrarsquos remarks were offensive ldquoWe need to have openness I would have shut the guy down But why are we expecting More to be a perfect handler of the crowd It is his failure But it is not a crimerdquoldquoI filter myself out a lot on the stagerdquo Singh says about being careful on stage lest someone post an outofcontext video of him online ldquoI want to test my skies limits but our society is so conservative towards this art form I received massive backlash for a particular joke of mine even from fellow comedians later a quite similar joke was done by Bill Burr in his special and he was celebrated for itrdquo he points outNot giving the Internetrsquos opinion on him much weightage he says ldquoPeople on social media behave like a mob thirsty for blood I donrsquot want to compromise on quality but I also donrsquot want to go to jail That guy lost his job which is a very big deal in todayrsquos timerdquo Drawing from his own experiences of being culturally blacklisted and targeted by hate messages he warns that online outrage rarely leaves room for nuance ldquoAny mistake provides an opportunity for the Internet users to showcase how good of a human being they arerdquoSingh believes accountability should come through formal channels instead of viral campaigns ldquoThe safest and the most brand friendly place to be on the Internet is to be blindly prowomen that goes unopposed everything else is scrutinisedrdquo Singh states ldquoYou have to always be perfect on the Internet or you will sufferrdquo The danger he argues lies in allowing public opinion to determine punishments before due process has a chance to run its course ldquoIn todayrsquos digital age a woman hating men is a woman but a man even funnily criticising a woman is a misogynist You canrsquot even joke around this And thatrsquos our realityrdquo