The Supreme Court on Monday said no citizen should abuse the freedom of speech and expression as it heard the anticipatory bail plea of cartoonist Hemant Malviya, accused of drawing “objectionable” caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS workers and Lord Shiva.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravinda Kumar termed the cartoons “inflammatory”, prompting advocate Vrinda Grover — representing Malviya — to offer to delete them from social media.
Malviya had challenged Madhya Pradesh High Court’s July 3 order refusing to grant him relief after observing that his cartoons were derogatory and had hurt religious
sentiments.
“We agree that it is inflammatory,” Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, heading the apex court bench, observed after Grover initially argued that the caricature was not offensive.
“It may be unpalatable. Let me also say it is in poor taste. I am not justifying it. But is it an offence?” the senior counsel said.
The bench replied: “But this is definitely a case where the freedom of speech and expression is being abused.”
Grover agreed to delete the social media post and the accompanying comments. “I will make a statement that I am not endorsing the objectionable comments,” she added.
The bench adjourned the matter for further hearing to Tuesday.
Grover requested the bench to grant interim protection to the petitioner till then.
“We will see this tomorrow,” the bench replied.
Grover had earlier contended that the high court had erroneously taken a view that Malviya was not entitled to the protection of Section 41-A of the CrPC/ Section 35 of the BNSS and safeguards enunciated in the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Arnesh Kumar vs State of Bihar (2014) case.
Section 41-A of the CrPC/ Section 35 of the BNSS provides for the issuance of a notice to appear before a police officer instead of immediate arrest. In the Arnesh Kumar case, the apex court had held that no one can be arrested, especially in cases where the offence is punishable with imprisonment of less than seven years, unless there are compelling reasons.
Grover submitted that the matter pertained to a cartoon that Malviya drew in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wazahat Khan
Another Supreme Court bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan on Monday expressed anguish over the growing trend of misusing the fundamental right to free speech.
The bench was hearing the plea of Wazahat Khan seeking the consolidation of FIRs against him registered in Assam, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana over his social media posts that had allegedly hurt Hindu sentiments.
“Citizens must know the value of freedom of speech and expression, but some people are abusing the freedom,” the bench observed.
The top court, however, said the interim protection from coercive action granted to Khan on June 23 would continue till further orders.
Khan had filed a complaint against social media influencer Sharmistha Panoli for allegedly making communal remarks in a video in the aftermath of the Pahalgam
terror attack.
Advocate Sidharth Agarwal, appearing for Khan, admitted that his complaint against Panoli had come to bite him.
“My complaint has come back to bite me. There is no excuse for my conduct, no doubt about it. The tweets were old and were in reaction to things. I have apologised,” the
counsel said.
“Citizens must know the value of freedom of speech and expression. If they don’t, then the State will step in,” Justice Nagarathna, heading the bench, observed.
Justice Nagarathna said she agreed with Justice Viswanathan’s view that such instances of abusing free speech would come down in the country if the spirit of brotherhood existed among citizens.
“It is not just about this petitioner. We will have to look beyond just him,” the bench said, indicating that it would issue guidelines to restrain such hate speeches and derogatory remarks on social media platforms.
The court listed the matter after four weeks.
Khan is in judicial custody in Calcutta after being arrested on June 9 in connection with an FIR filed against him for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments and disrupting communal harmony.