A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Aravind Kumar granted interim anticipatory protection to Malviya after he expressed regret over the episode and submitted an apology.
Digital arrest scams under SC lens: MHA forms high-level panel, seeks time to finalise action plan. (File Photo: IANS)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who is facing a criminal case over a caricature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which was alleged to be objectionable and derogatory.
A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Aravind Kumar granted interim anticipatory protection to Malviya after he expressed regret over the episode and submitted an apology. The Court directed that the apology be submitted in Hindi in the form of an affidavit. The matter has now been posted for further hearing after August 15.
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The Court also directed that pleadings in the matter be completed by the next date of hearing.
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The bench was hearing Malviya’s petition against the July 3 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which had denied him anticipatory bail, holding that the cartoon in question was a misuse of freedom of speech and warranted custodial interrogation.
On Monday, the bench had rebuked the cartoonist for his conduct and remarked, “Comedians, cartoonists etc. must be mindful of their conduct.” When told that Malviya was over 50 years of age, the bench had remarked, “Still no maturity. We agree that it is inflammatory.”
During today’s hearing, senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Malviya, reiterated that while the cartoon may be seen as unpalatable or in poor taste, it did not amount to a cognisable offence. She assured the court that Malviya would remove the post and clarify that he had not endorsed the objectionable comments attached to the image when it was recently recirculated.
In his plea before the top court, Malviya submitted that the original cartoon was created during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic as a form of satire on public comments comparing vaccines to “water” in terms of safety, given the limited clinical evidence at the time.
The caricature, he contended, depicted a common man being vaccinated by a public figure and had remained in public domain on social media for over four years. He further stated that a third-party social media user had recently re-shared the cartoon on May 1, 2025, with politically loaded commentary, which Malviya later shared to demonstrate that his cartoons were available for public use and did not necessarily reflect his own views.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had earlier held that Malviya’s cartoon “clearly overstepped the threshold of freedom of speech” and represented a “sheer misuse” of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The court said custodial interrogation was necessary.
“In the considered opinion of this court, 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 the sheer misuse of the freedom of speech and expression …,” the High Court had observed.
The High Court had also noted that the cartoon became more objectionable when combined with the allegedly derogatory remarks involving Lord Shiva, and took into account that Malviya had encouraged others to use or remix the caricature.
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