The Supreme Court Today (July 14) refused interim protection from arrest to cartoonist Hemant Malviya for controversial posts on PM Modi, Lord Shiva and RSS. The judges called his content “inflammatory” and lacking maturity.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Monday refused to give interim protection from arrest to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who is facing criminal charges for allegedly sharing objectionable cartoons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lord Shiva and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on social media platforms.
A bench consisting of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Aravind Kumar expressed strong disapproval of Malviya’s actions while hearing his plea challenging the rejection of anticipatory bail.
The judges said his conduct was not appropriate and criticized his behavior.
“Still no maturity in him. It is indeed inflammatory,”
-said Justice Dhulia, while expressing the court’s concern about the nature of the cartoons and the content posted by Malviya online.
Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, representing Hemant Malviya, informed the court that the post which had caused the issue had already been removed from the internet.
“He is over 50. The post did not amount to an offence and it is about personal liberty,”
-argued Grover, requesting the court to stop any arrest action against Malviya.
However, the Supreme Court did not accept the request for interim protection and refused to grant any relief on the day.
The court decided to hear the matter further on Tuesday (July 15).
CASE TITLE:
Hemant Malviya vs State of Madhya Pradesh.
SLP(Crl) No. 9906/2025.
EARLIER IN MP HIGH COURT
Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to give anticipatory bail to Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya. He was accused of making a cartoon that showed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a way that many people found disrespectful and offensive.
This order was given on 3rd July by Justice Subodh Abhyankar, who clearly said that Malviya misused his right to freedom of speech and should have been more careful before making and posting such a cartoon online.
The Court strongly criticized Malviya’s action and said:
“He has clearly overstepped the threshold of freedom of speech and expression and does not appear to know his limits.”
Because of this, the Court said it was important to question him in police custody.
In the judge’s own words-
“In the considered opinion of this court, 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 the sheer misuse of the freedom of speech and expression as enshrined under Art.19(1)(a) of the Constitution, and falls under the definition of offence as contended by the complainant.”
The Court also pointed out that the post became even more disturbing because of the offensive remarks about Lord Shiva that were added to the cartoon:
“The post becomes more unsettling when the derogatory lines involving Lord Shiva are also added to it.”
It further noted that Hemant Malviya had even encouraged others to copy or experiment with his cartoon, which the Court said was not done with good intentions:
“Which certainly cannot be said to be made in good taste or faith.”
The bench went on to say:
“It is apparent that the applicant’s aforesaid act is deliberate and malicious intended to outrage religious feelings of the complainant and the public at large by insulting its religion, which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony in the society.”
It clearly concluded that:
“Applicant’s aforesaid act is deliberate and malicious intended to outrage religious feelings of the complainant and the public at large.”
This matter started in May this year, when Hemant Malviya was booked for a Facebook post that a member of the RSS found offensive.
The cartoon showed a man in RSS khaki shorts bending over with his dress pulled down, while Prime Minister Modi was shown with a stethoscope and an injection, about to inject the person. Many saw this as a disrespectful and degrading representation of both RSS and the PM.
Malviya’s lawyer told the Court that the cartoon was meant as satire and argued that Supreme Court guidelines against unfair or arbitrary arrests were not being followed by the authorities.
But the State, on the other hand, said that the freedom of speech cannot be misused to insult respected institutions or leaders in such a vulgar way.
After hearing both sides, the Court said that Malviya had shown the intention to repeat such acts in future too, and so he did not deserve any legal protection under anticipatory bail.
The Court explained:
“Thus, against the applicant, who has clearly demonstrated his propensity to commit the said offence and to promote the same in future also, the provisions of s.41(1)(b)(i) and (ii) would be attracted in full force and he cannot take recourse of the benefit of the provisions of s.41A of Cr.P.C./s. 35 of BNSS and consequently, the benefit of the dictum in the case of Arnesh Kumar (supra) would also not be available to him.”
Based on this reasoning, the High Court dismissed his plea for anticipatory bail.
Advocate Rishabh Gupta appeared for Hemant Malviya,
Advocate Amit Raval represented the State, and
Advocate Govind Rai Purohit appeared for the complainant.
CASE TITLE:
Hemant Malviya vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh.
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