Cartoonist moves SC for anticipatory bail in case of making caricature of PM, RSS

New Delhi: Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya has filed a plea in the Supreme Court challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court's order declining him anticipatory bail in a 2021 case related to making a caricature of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS.

On Friday, senior advocate Vrinda Grover mentioned his plea before a bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi for urgent hearing.

She said the High Court, by its order, has condemned the petitioner while holding that the Supreme Court's judgments in the cases of Arnesh Kumar (2014) and Imran Pratapgarhi (2025) would not apply in the case. She also said the maximum punishment for the offences against the petitioner was three years of jail term.

The court agreed to list the matter on Monday, July 14.

Last week, a bench of Justice Subodh Abhyankar had said that his custodial interrogation was “necessary” in the case.

The petitioner allegedly portrayed PM Modi and the RSS in caricatures, which the High Court found as “undignified” "deliberate" and "malicious", on his Facebook page.

RSS activist Vinay Joshi filed the complaint in the case.

In its order on July 3, the High Court had said the conduct of Malviya in depicting the RSS and the Prime Minister, coupled with his endorsement of a demeaning remark unnecessarily dragging the name of Hindu deity Shiva in the comments tagged to the cartoon, was nothing but sheer misuse of the freedom of speech and expression, as enshrined under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.