Supreme Court of India will hear the Anticipatory Bail Plea of Indore Cartoonist Hemant Malviya
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear the anticipatory bail plea of Indore cartoonist Hemant Malviya on July 14. The case is related to a cartoon posted by him on Facebook. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case on Friday.
Malviya is accused of uploading so called 'objectionable cartoons' of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers on social media. A bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi agreed to hear the petition filed by Malviya.
The cartoonist's petition challenges the order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in which he was denied anticipatory bail. Senior advocate Vrinda Grover had sought an urgent hearing of the case.
On behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Vrinda Grover raised the matter before a bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Raising the matter against the order of the High Court, he said that the High Court order states that the decision given in the Arnesh Kumar case will not apply, 41-A will not apply and Imran Pratapgarhi will also not apply.
The petitioner said that a malicious FIR has been lodged against me, so that I can be punished for using my freedom of expression. The complainant found this cartoon contrary to his personal views. But if the contents of the FIR are seen, then clearly no allegation is made against me.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had rejected Malviya's anticipatory bail plea, saying that he cannot get the benefit of Section 41-A of CRPC or Section 35 of the Indian Civil Security Code (BNSS), or the protection provisions given under Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar.
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According to the petition, this cartoon was published on 6 January 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a satirical response to a public figure's statement that some vaccines were "as safe as water" even though they had not been scientifically tested. The cartoon showed a common man being vaccinated by a public representative. It was an artist's visualisation that has been publicly available on social media for the past four years.
On May 1, 2025, an unknown person reposted the same cartoon with a new comment, saying that issues like caste census were being used to divert attention from issues like Waqf and Pahalgam. Malviya shared the post only to show that his cartoons were for public use.
He did not endorse the comment, but he recognised the cartoon and cited its source. Subsequently, an FIR was filed against him on May 21, 2025 under sections 196, 299, 302, 352, 353(2) of the BNSS and section 67(A) of the IT Act, 2000.
Local advocate Vinay Joshi, who claims to be an RSS member and part of the Hindu community, alleged that the cartoon maligned the image of the RSS, hurt religious sentiments of Hindus and disturbed communal harmony.
