"Does not know his limits", Madhya Pradesh HC denies anticipatory bail to cartoonist who drew PM Modi, RSS in undignified manner

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently denied anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya accused of drawing a caricature against the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak (RSS) and the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, showing them in an undignified manner.

Malviya has been booked for offences punishable under Section 196, 299, 302, 352, 353(3) of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023 and Section 67-A of the I.T. Act, 2000.

Justice Subodh Abhyankar noted in his order that the applicant cartoonist's Facebook page, showed RSS in a human form with its Khaki shorts with a black belt and white shirt, which is the uniform of RSS.

"This man is bending over with his shorts pulled down and exposing his bottom to the caricature of the Prime Minister, who is shown with a stethoscope around his neck and who is also holding an injection in his hand, which he is administering on the bottom of the person bending over i.e. RSS.", high court further noted.

The High Court opined that 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.

"...the post becomes more unsettling when the aforesaid derogatory lines involving Lord Shiva are also added to it, and which have also been favourably endorsed by the applicant himself who is also encouraging other people to experiment with the said caricature, which certainly cannot be said to be made in good taste or faith. 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...", the order further noted.

Court also refused the applicants' plea to draw a comparison of his work with the work that of RK Laxman the noted cartoonist of his era, and the other cartoonists also, as no such caricature drawn by RK Laxman or any other noted cartoonist had been brought before court which may be said to be similar or close enough to the caricature drawn by applicant.

Thus, while holding that the custodial interrogation of the applicant would be necessary, the high court said, "...the applicant ought to have used his discretion while drawing the aforesaid caricature, and he has clearly overstepped the threshold of freedom of speech and expression, and does not appear to know his limits.".

Case Title: HEMANT MALVIYA vs. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH