The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to Indore cartoonist Hemant Malviya over a social media post allegedly depicting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi in an undignified manner.
A bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar permitted Malviya to submit an affidavit expressing a genuine apology, even as it expressed serious reservations about the 2021 Facebook post. Malviya offered to delete the post.
The bench said that the apology should be genuine and come from the heart, and not be filed for the sake of it, when advocate Vrinda Grover submitted it on Malviya’s behalf. Grover said that her client writes in Hindi, and she will ask him to prepare an apology in that language. She added that a translated copy of the apology will be submitted to the court. Grover said Malviya may be permitted to delete the post until the apology is considered.
Vinay Joshi, a lawyer and an RSS member, filed a complaint against Malviya in May this year, claiming a cartoon Malviya posted on Facebook was “offensive”, “obscene”, and “indecent”. He claimed the post hurt Hindu religious sentiments and damaged the RSS’s image.
The Madhya Pradesh Police booked Malviya under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s sections 196, 299, and 352 for allegedly harming communal harmony, hurting religious feelings, and under the Information Technology Act.
{{/usCountry}}The Madhya Pradesh Police booked Malviya under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’s sections 196, 299, and 352 for allegedly harming communal harmony, hurting religious feelings, and under the Information Technology Act.
{{/usCountry}}Additional solicitor general KM Natraj opposed the prayer for deletion of the post, arguing it cannot be done unless Malviya furnishes a copy of all his posts to the investigation agency. “I am told there are more such posts. One is against the judiciary. I will place them on record.” He showed some posts to the bench and said Malviya has been reposting several such posts. “The investigation against him is still ongoing.”
The bench went through some of the posts and told Grover, “One of his posts is really very offensive. It will attract many penal laws. Sadly, today, all sorts of things are happening. Look at the language being used. Anything is being said about anyone.”
Grover said that the original cartoon was posted in 2021 and that the case was registered over reposts made by people who are strangers to her client. She added that strangers used the cartoon and added objectionable words.
The court permitted Grover to file an affidavit by the next date of hearing and the state to bring any other “offensive” post to the court’s knowledge.
Malviya moved the Supreme Court against the Madhya Pradesh high court’s dismissal of his anticipatory bail plea on July 3. He said he was willing to delete the post and apologise as the court prima facie said that the freedom of speech and expression had been “abused”. The court said the cartoon was in “bad taste”. The bench permitted Joshi to file a response to Malviya’s affidavit.
The high court refused anticipatory bail to Malviya, citing the sheer misuse of the freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution. It said Malviya’s deliberate and malicious post was intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion, which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony in society.