Cartoonist moves SC for anticipatory bail over ‘objectionable’ posts on PM

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the anticipatory bail plea of Hemant Malviya, an Indore-based cartoonist accused of uploading "objectionable" cartoons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS workers on social media.

A bench comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi scheduled the hearing for July 14, following advocate Vrinda Grover's request for urgent consideration. Malviya has challenged the Madhya Pradesh High Court's decision denying him bail.

The high court had characterised the incident as a "gross misuse of freedom of speech".

Grover argued that the cartoon in question was created in 2021 during the Covid period. She added that the high court refused to apply landmark decisions such as Arnesh Kumar and Imran Pratapgarhi, which pertain to life and liberty.

She further submitted, "The offence is under which BNS, which entails a maximum of three years of punishment."

Justice Dhulia ordered the matter be listed before the appropriate bench on July 14.

Earlier, on July 3, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had denied Malviya anticipatory bail. The complaint, filed at Indore's Lasudiya police station by local lawyer and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Vinay Joshi, alleged that Malviya uploaded material that hurt Hindu religious sentiments and disturbed communal harmony.

The FIR listed several "objectionable" posts, including cartoons, videos, photographs and comments involving Modi, RSS workers, and allegedly inappropriate remarks about Lord Shiva.

Quoting from its order, the high court stated,"...on the face of it, the conduct of the applicant in depicting the RSS, which is a Hindu organisation, along with the prime minister of this country in the aforesaid caricature, coupled with his endorsement of a rather demeaning remark, dragging unnecessarily the name of Lord Shiva in the comments tagged to it, is nothing but sheer misuse of freedom of speech and expression as enshrined under Art 19(1)(a) of the Constitution..."

The court went on to say that the posts appeared to be a "deliberate and malicious attempt to outrage religious feelings" and that Malviya had "clearly overstepped the threshold of freedom of speech and expression."

“In view of the same, this court is of the considered opinion that the custodial interrogation of the applicant would be necessary,” the high court concluded.

Malviya’s lawyer had argued before the high court that the cartoon was posted by the accused, but the comments underneath were made by other Facebook users, for which he could not be held responsible.

The FIR accused Malviya of uploading indecent and objectionable content with the intent to hurt Hindu sentiments and tarnish the RSS's image.

Police have invoked multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)—including Section 196 (acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony between different communities), Section 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and Section 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace)—as well as Section 67-A of the Information Technology Act, which pertains to publishing or transmitting sexually explicit material electronically.

(inputs from PTI)