The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, accused of drawing “objectionable” caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS workers and Lord Shiva, as it hinted at issuing orders to curb rising instances of misuse of freedom of speech and expression.
“We will have to do something in this regard. This is too much and going too far. People these days say anything to anyone,” a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar observed.
The top court granted Malviya interim protection from coercive action in connection with an FIR in Madhya Pradesh after his counsel Vrinda Grover said an apology had been tendered.
Grover also informed the court that the cartoonist had deleted the controversial posts.
The bench, however, cautioned that if the cartoonist continued to post or share any offensive posts on social media, the respondent state was free to take action against him under the law.
Additional solicitor-general K.M. Natraj, appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government, argued that the cartoonist was not entitled to any “indulgence” (relief) as he had hurt religious sentiments through his action.
The top court, however, adjourned the matter for
four weeks.
On Monday, the bench had termed Malviya’s caricatures “inflammatory”, adding that no citizen should abuse the freedom of speech and expression in such a manner.
Malviya had filed the special leave petition against Madhya Pradesh High Court’s July 3 order dismissing his anticipatory bail application on the ground that he 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.