9 July 2025
India: cartoonist Hemant Malviya remains in custody for a cartoon
Indian cartoonist Hemant Malviya has been in custody since May after posting a cartoon on Facebook depicting a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an ultra-nationalist Hindu organisation, and Prime Minister Modi. He was arrested by the police following a complaint by an RSS activist. His Facebook account has since been suspended.
According to the local press, Hemant Malviya has been charged under sections 196, 299 and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita – the Indian Penal Code that came into effect on 1 July 2024 – for acts that allegedly ‘disturbed communal harmony and religious sentiments’. He is also reportedly charged under section 67A of the Information Technology Act for ‘electronically sharing content depicting sexually explicit acts’.
At the beginning of July, we learned that the Madhya High Court had rejected his request for bail, ruling that the RSS representative and the Prime Minister were represented ‘in an undignified manner’ and that the cartoonist’s act was ‘deliberate and malicious and aimed at offending the religious sentiments of the complainant and the general public by insulting his religion, which is detrimental to the maintenance of harmony in society.’
The state representative argued that, in the name of freedom of expression, it could not be permissible to draw a cartoon depicting the RSS and the Prime Minister in an ‘offensive and degrading manner’.
In an increasingly restrictive environment for freedom of expression and growing instrumentalisation of religion, the cartoonist’s lawyer unsuccessfully argued that his work was essentially satirical and that his custody violated the Supreme Court’s guidelines on arbitrary detention. The cartoonist’s lawyer also argued that the cartoonist had merely drawn the cartoon and that his satirical work published on Facebook was not responsible for the comments it provoked online.
India ranks 151st out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In solidarity with Helmant Malviya, who has been detained for exercising his profession as a cartoonist, Cartooning for Peace calls for his immediate release.
Translation of the cartoon: ‘Why are you afraid? Poonawalla, the owner of Serum, has stated that this vaccine contains only water, and that no one dies from the side effects of water!’ – Adar Poonawalla is the CEO of the Serum Institute of India, which has taken on the responsibility of manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine.
