The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted cartoonist Hemant Malviya ten days to issue a public apology on social media after he expressed willingness to withdraw his caricature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which had been deemed “undignified.”
The Court also extended his interim protection from arrest.
A bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria was hearing Malviya’s plea for anticipatory bail in the case registered against him in Madhya Pradesh.
“I have already placed the apology according to the earlier order,” Malviya’s counsel Vrinda Grover told the bench, according to Bar and Bench. “I want to make an additional statement that it [the caricature] will be deleted from all social media platforms even though the case pertains to the Facebook post. I will publish the apology on my social media account as well.”
However, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government, argued that the original post should not be deleted due to the ongoing investigation. He also sought an undertaking from Malviya that he would not repeat such actions in the future.
The bench directed Malviya to publish the apology within 10 days and extended his interim protection from arrest until the next hearing.
On July 15, the top court had first granted Malviya interim protection but warned that if he continued sharing offensive material, the state government could proceed against him. At that time, Malviya had submitted a written apology, which the Court required to be filed in Hindi as an affidavit.
Malviya had earlier approached the Supreme Court after the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in a July 3 order, rejected his anticipatory bail plea, observing that he had “clearly overstepped” the limits of free speech and required custodial interrogation.
The controversy began with a cartoon published on January 6, 2021, showing Modi as a doctor giving an injection to a man resembling an RSS worker. The caption read: “Why are you worried? Serum’s Poonawala has said that the vaccine only has water, you won’t die from the side effect of water!” — a reference to Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla’s remark about ineffective Covid-19 vaccines.
Later, a Facebook user republished the cartoon with an altered caption in which the man in RSS attire addressed Modi as an incarnation of Lord Shiva and sought a strong dose of “caste census” to forget the Pahalgam terror attack and the Waqf Act. Malviya shared this altered version on May 1, adding that his cartoons were free for public use with any caption. He praised the modified version, saying the caption was well written.
Following this, an RSS member lodged a complaint, accusing Malviya of defaming the organisation and hurting religious sentiments. He was booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act, including charges of promoting enmity, outraging religious feelings, and publishing objectionable material online.
Malviya has maintained that his cartoons are satire and that he has been falsely implicated. He argued that the controversial captions were not authored by him, and therefore, he could not be held accountable for them.