The Supreme Court on Monday rebuked Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya for his objectionable caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) while terming his conduct “inflammatory” and “immature”.
According to Live Law, a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar expressed disapproval of the cartoonist’s conduct and said, “The comedians, cartoonists, etc., should seriously look at their conduct.” Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for Malviya, said the cartoonist will delete the post and make a statement that he was not endorsing the objectionable comments, the report further stated.
She admitted that the cartoonist’s comments and the caricature might be “unpalatable or in poor taste”, but it was still not an offence. The advocate further requested interim protection for Malviya, saying that the police were knocking at his door, Live Law reported.
When the bench asked about the age of the cartoonist, Grover said he was over 50 years old. To this, Justice Dhulia said, “Still no maturity. We agree that it is inflammatory.” The bench then posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday. The Madhya Pradesh High Court on July 3 had rejected his anticipatory bail plea. The High Court had said that Malviya had misused the freedom of speech and ought to have used his discretion while drawing the caricature in question.
Case history
The cartoon in question was initially composed by Malviya in 2021, which posed questions about the efficacy of Covid vaccines, and was reused by a Facebook user in May 2025 along with certain objectionable comments in the context of the government’s decision to hold a caste census. Malviya re-shared the post along with the comments. Which led to an FIR against him.
Malviya’s plea before the Supreme Court contends that a malicious FIR was filed against him to punish him for exercising his freedom of speech and expression. It claims that the FIR does not disclose any offence against him.
(With Inputs from ANI)
