Attempt To Involve A Group Without Any Basis Cannot Be Called Satire: Madhya Pradesh HC Refuses To Quash FIR For Sharing Cartoon Of Man In RSS Uniform Depicting Sidhi Urination Incident
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has dismissed Neha Singh Rathore’s application to quash an FIR for her sharing a cartoon depicting a semi-nude man seemingly wearing the RSS uniform urinating on another man, depicting the Sidhi urination incident. The Court observed that although artists have the liberty to criticise, adding a particular dress in a cartoon was not satire.
The folk singer cum political activist argued in Court that it was her moral duty to highlight a "gruesome incident" where an inebriated person urinated on another person of the reserved category. She uploaded a message on Twitter and Instagram along with a cartoon showing a semi-naked person urinating on another sitting on the floor, with a yellowish-brown (khakhi) half-pant lying nearby. The man was depicted as wearing a white shirt with a black cap and a Janaeu over the shirt, smoking a cigarette. Last year, one Pravesh Shukla was caught on camera urinating on a tribal man in an inebriated condition. The accused was later arrested and the stringent NSA was involved against him.
A Single Bench of Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia observed, “Fundamental right of free speech and expression is not an absolute right and is subject to reasonable restrictions. Although an artist must have the liberty to criticize through satire but adding a particular dress in the cartoon cannot be said to be a satire. The attempt of the applicant was to involve a group of particular ideology without any basis. Therefore, it would not come within the purview of Article 19(1)(a) of Constitution of India and even a satirical expression may be prohibited under Article 19(2) of Constitution of India.”
Advocate Arubendra Singh Parihar represented the applicant, while P.P. Mohan Sausarkar appeared for the respondents.
An FIR was registered under Sections 153-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly promoting disharmony between different religious groups and castes for making a distasteful comment. The Singer argued that she was being “scolded” as an agent of other political parties, but she was not afraid of any such threats.
When asked to clarify whether the person who had peed on the member of the reserved category was wearing the same dress and was in the same condition or not, the singer answered that the cartoon uploaded was not in accordance with the actual incident and “certain dress” was included which the accused was not wearing at the time of the incident.
The Court noted that “the addition of a particular dress was indicative of the fact that applicant wanted to communicate that the offence was committed by a person belonging to a particular ideology. Thus, it was a clear case of making an attempt to disrupt harmony and to provoke the feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will.”
“Since the cartoon which was uploaded by the applicant on her Twitter and Instagram account was not in accordance with the incident which had taken place and certain additional things were added by the applicant on her own, this Court is of considered opinion that it cannot be said that the applicant had uploaded the cartoon by exercising her fundamental right of free speech and expression,” the Court observed.
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the application.
Cause Title: Neha Singh Rathore v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr.