New Delhi, August 19: The Supreme Court on Tuesday continued its interim protection from arrest to Indore-based cartoonist Hemant Malviya, who has been booked for posting caricatures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
A bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria directed that Malviya issue a public apology on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, within ten days. The protection will remain in force until the next hearing.
Appearing for the Madhya Pradesh government, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj argued that the controversial post should not be deleted since the investigation is underway. He suggested that Malviya tender an apology along with an undertaking that he would refrain from similar acts and cooperate with the probe.
Earlier, the apex court had asked Malviya to file an apology in Hindi in the form of an affidavit. His plea for anticipatory bail had been rejected by the Madhya Pradesh High Court on July 3, which held that he had misused the right to free speech and should have exercised restraint in his artistic expression.
In his defense, Malviya clarified that the cartoon in question was created during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a period when misinformation and doubts about vaccines were widespread. He described the caricature as satirical commentary on remarks comparing certain vaccines’ safety to that of water, even before proper clinical trials were completed.
The petitioner added that the artwork—depicting a public representative vaccinating a common man—had been in circulation on social media for over four years. He also explained that a user recently reshared the cartoon with a political commentary linking it to caste census debates. Malviya maintained that while he acknowledged the use of his cartoon in that post, he did not endorse the accompanying remarks.
