‘Freedom of speech is being breached’: SC refuses interim protection to cartoonist who mocked PM, RSS

India’s top court on Monday (July 14) declined to provide interim protection from arrest to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who faces criminal charges for allegedly sharing offensive caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on social media.

Supreme Court Justices Sandeep Mehta and Sudhanshu Dhulia strongly criticised Malviya during the hearing of his plea challenging the rejection of his anticipatory bail.

The court described his actions as “inflammatory” and “immature”.

“Still no maturity in him. It is indeed inflammatory,” remarked Justice Dhulia, expressing displeasure over the nature of Malviya’s posts.

“This freedom of speech is being abused by this cartoonist, stand-up comedians,” the court orally remarked during the hearing, making it clear that such expressions cannot be shielded blindly under the right to free speech.

Senior advocate Vrinda Grover, representing Malviya, informed the court that the controversial post had already been removed.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court refused to grant interim relief and scheduled the case for further hearing on Tuesday.

MP High Court rejected Malviya’s plea earlier

Earlier on July 3, the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected Malviya’s anticipatory bail plea, stating that he had “misused the freedom of speech” and shown a lack of discretion in creating the controversial caricature.

In his Supreme Court petition, Malviya explained that the cartoon was first published during the height of the
Covid-19 pandemic, a time filled with misinformation and public concern about vaccine safety.

He argued that the cartoon was a piece of satirical social commentary meant to draw attention to public statements that likened certain vaccines to “safe water,” despite limited clinical trial data.

Malviya further noted that the caricature, which portrayed an imagined scenario of a citizen being vaccinated by a political leader, had been making the rounds on social media for over four years.