The Supreme Court today granted anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who is accused of sharing allegedly objectionable cartoons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS workers on social media. Noting that he has apologised on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, a bench of Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria gave the police the freedom to seek the cancellation of his bail if the cartoonist fails to co-operate with the investigation.
During the hearing, Vrinda Grover, Malviya's counsel, informed the court that an apology had been tendered and that the petitioner had not yet been summoned.
Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj replied that a summon would only take place once all the evidence had been gathered.
Malviya was booked by police in Indore in May following a complaint filed by lawyer and RSS worker Vinay Joshi, who alleged that Malviya had hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and disturbed communal harmony by uploading offensive material on social media.
On 15 July, a top court bench of Justices Kumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia gave Malviya protection from coercive action. Today, it made the order "absolute".
The top court had earlier taken note of an affidavit filed by Malviya in which he had expressed his regret and tendered a "wholehearted apology". The bench expressed its hope that the apology was not just "from the pen but also from the heart".
Nataraj had submitted that the investigation was pending and the post could be a relevant piece of evidence, and that its deletion at this stage might not be permitted.
In its 15 July ruling, the top court also expressed its anguish over the increasing number of objectionable posts on social media and underscored the need to pass a judicial order to curb the problem.
Malviya has challenged a Madhya Pradesh High Court order passed on July 3 that refused to grant him anticipatory bail.
The FIR against him mentioned various "objectionable" posts, including allegedly inappropriate comments on Lord Shiva as well as cartoons, videos, photographs, and comments regarding Modi, RSS workers and others. The FIR accused him of posting indecent and offensive material with the intention of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus and tarnishing the RSS's image.
Malviya's lawyer in the High Court contended that he had only posted a cartoon and could not be held responsible for comments posted on it by other Facebook users.
The police invoked Sections 196 (acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony between different communities), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), and 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as Section 67-A (publishing or transmitting in electronic form any sexually explicit material) of the Information Technology Act against the accused.
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