नवीनतम
SC gives anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya
NEW DELHI [Maha Media]: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to cartoonist Hemant Malviya, accused of sharing allegedly objectionable cartoons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS workers on social media.
The matter was heard by a bench comprising justices Aravind Kumar and N V Anjaria. The bench observed that the petitioner has apologised on his accounts on Facebook and Instagram. During the hearing, Malviya's advocate, Vrinda Grover, informed the court that an apology was given and that the petitioner had not yet been summoned.
Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj contended that the summoning will take place only after all the evidence is gathered. After hearing submissions, the bench gave the police liberty to seek cancellation of his bail in case the cartoonist did not cooperate in the probe.
On July 15, the apex court had deprecated the use of offensive language in shows and on social media, while granting protection from coercive action to the cartoonist.
The apex court on July 14 told the Indore-based cartoonist that his conduct was immature, after which he agreed to delete the Facebook post. Malviya is facing an FIR over an objectionable cartoon on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS.
On July 3, the high court refused to grant anticipatory bail to Malviya. The high court had observed that it was a gross misuse of freedom of speech. The petitioner moved the apex court against the high court order.
A case was registered against Malviya at the Lasudiya police station of Indore in May on the complaint of local lawyer and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Vinay Joshi. The complaint alleged that Malviya hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and disturbed communal harmony by uploading objectionable material on social media.
The high court had observed that on the face of it, the conduct of the applicant in depicting the RSS, which is a Hindu organisation, along with the prime minister of this country in the aforesaid caricature, coupled with his endorsement of a rather demeaning remark, dragging unnecessarily the name of Lord Shiva in the comments tagged to it, is nothing but sheer misuse of freedom of speech and expression as enshrined under Art 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
Malviya's lawyer had argued in the high court that he only posted a cartoon, but he could not be held responsible for the comments posted on it by other Facebook users.
