A cartoon meant to poke fun has landed an Indore-based artist in serious legal heat. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has denied anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who stands accused of insulting the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and even invoking Lord Shiva in a Facebook caricature that stirred more than just political debate.
In a sharply worded order, Justice Subodh Abhyankar pulled no punches, saying Malviya had “clearly overstepped the threshold of freedom of speech and expression” and showed no regard for discretion. The court said that his conduct merited custodial interrogation.
The controversial caricature depicted a man dressed in the signature RSS khaki shorts, bending over with his backside exposed, as a caricature of the Prime Minister — stethoscope slung around his neck — prepares to administer an injection. The accompanying caption included references to Lord Shiva, which the court said further compounded the offensiveness of the post.
“The applicant’s act is not just distasteful satire,” the Court declared, “it is a deliberate and malicious attempt to outrage religious feelings and disturb societal harmony.”
The Court took issue with more than just the image — it pointed to Malviya’s endorsement of the post and encouragement of others to replicate it. That, the judge noted, showed intent beyond a one-off artistic expression: “He promoted the caricature with full knowledge of its inflammatory nature.”
Malviya’s legal team argued that his cartoon was meant as political satire and invoked protections under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. They also claimed the arrest process ignored Supreme Court safeguards meant to prevent arbitrary detention.
But the bench wasn’t convinced. It ruled that the protections under sections 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code and Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) wouldn’t apply in this case. The court specifically excluded him from the relief offered in the Arnesh Kumar judgment, which discourages arrests for offences punishable with less than seven years in prison.
According to the court, Malviya’s caricature wasn’t just in poor taste—it was criminal in intent. The petition for anticipatory bail was summarily dismissed.
The controversy began in May, after a complaint by an RSS member who found the social media post “deeply objectionable.” What followed was a heated courtroom debate on the boundaries of satire, religious sentiment, and political critique—ultimately, with the scales tipped against the cartoonist.
