The Supreme Court directed cartoonist Hemant petitioner to publish an apology on his social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram, for posting an allegedly undignified caricature of the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Appearing before a Bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and NV Anjaria, Adv. Vrinda Grover, representing petitioner, stated that the caricature would be deleted from all social media platforms, despite the case relating to only a Facebook post. She added that an apology had already been issued pursuant to an earlier order and would now be published on petitioner’s accounts.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, for the State of Madhya Pradesh, opposed deletion of the post due to the ongoing investigation but agreed to the apology, provided it included an undertaking not to repeat such actions and to cooperate with the probe. The Bench accepted the proposal, requiring the apology to be published within 10 days, and extended interim protection from arrest to petitioner until the next hearing.
The petitioner had approached the Supreme Court challenging the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s denial of anticipatory bail in FIRs registered under the BNS and Section 67A of the IT Act 2008.The FIR alleged that petitioner’s cartoon depicted a man in RSS uniform with shorts pulled down, receiving an injection from Prime Minister Modi, accompanied by remarks involving Lord Shiva deeming derogatory by the High Court.
In his petition, the petitioner described the cartoon as “a satirical comment” on vaccine efficacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was later reposted by another user with added commentary on caste census, which he shared without endorsement. During the prior hearing on July 15, the Supreme Court expressed concern over certain cartoons by petitioner and suggested framing guidelines on free speech and directed to publish an apology.