The Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected folk singer Neha Singh Rathore's plea to nullify an FIR lodged against her. The FIR was filed following her sharing of a cartoon subsequent to an incident where a tribal youth was subjected to urination by an individual.

Last year, on July 9, an FIR was registered in Chhatarpur regarding a cartoon. The cartoon depicted a half-naked individual urinating on another, with a khaki half-pant lying on the ground. Additionally, a person wearing a white shirt and a black cap was also depicted in the cartoon.

Rejecting Ms Rathore's plea, Justice GS Ahluwalia, in his May 15 order, said, "This court is of the considered opinion that no case is made out warranting interference. The application fails and is hereby dismissed." 

According to the court order, the cartoon uploaded by the applicant on her Twitter and Instagram accounts did not accurately reflect the incident that occurred. The court noted that the applicant had added certain elements to the cartoon on her own.

"The court is of the considered opinion that it cannot be said that the applicant had uploaded the cartoon by exercising her fundamental right of free speech and expression. Although an artist must have the liberty to criticize through satire, adding a particular dress in the cartoon cannot be said to be satire," the court order emphasised.

"The addition of a particular dress was indicative of the fact that the 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 feelings of enmity, hatred, or ill-will," the court order added.

The court highlighted that the applicant attempted to implicate a specific ideological group without any factual basis. Consequently, such actions did not fall under the protection of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Additionally, the court emphasized that even satirical expression could be restricted under Article 19(2) of the Constitution. 

 Ms. Rathore shared the cartoon following the arrest of Pravesh Shukla, a resident of Sidhi, who was accused of urinating on a tribal man. This incident sparked national outrage after videos of it circulated widely on social media platforms.

Interestingly, the opposition Congress had claimed that Shukla was affiliated with the ruling BJP.