Police in Mumbai have registered a criminal case against a comedian over a tweet of the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi modified by Snapchat’s popular dog filter.

The comedy group All-India Bakchod, co-founded by comedian Tanmay Bhat, tweeted the image on Wednesday with the hashtag #wanderlust, an apparent jibe at Modi’s propensity for foreign visits. They later deleted it after intense criticism from supporters of the Hindu nationalist leader.



Everyone please share this picture of Narendra Modi in a Snapchat dog filter & make it go viral. Not a crime in this country to mock the PM. pic.twitter.com/WCBXgrAbIg — Hardik Rajgor (@Hardism) July 14, 2017

Police told New Delhi Television on Friday that after “due legal consultation” they were commencing a criminal investigation into the tweet, on possible charges of defamation and of “publishing and transmitting material which is lascivious or appeal[s] to the prurient interests”.

The latter offence carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail or a 500,000-rupee (£6,000) fine, but such matters rarely proceed to trial in India’s overburdened legal system, where cases can linger for up two decades.

The dog filter on Snapchat, which has about 4m users in India, superimposes the animal’s ears and a nose on the subject of a image.



One supreme court lawyer said the effect of filing the cases was instead to “legally harass” the accused.

Bhat defended the troupe’s style of comedy, which has frequently drawn official scrutiny for allegedly insulting religious sentiments and using obscene language. A series of comedy “roasts” held by All-India Bakchod three years ago led to at least 14 criminal cases being registered against the members of the group and guests.

PS: Will continue making jokes. And deleting if necessary. And making jokes again. And Apologizing if necessary. Don't care what you think. — Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) July 13, 2017

The announcement of the investigation was widely discussed on social media on Friday, with some women contrasting the authorities’ swift action against the tweet with the apathy they claim often greets complaints of sexual harassment and trolling.



A book published last year claimed the ruling Bharatiya Janata party had been involved in co-ordinated social media campaigns against political opponents that would often spill into outright religious or sexual trolling. The party denies the allegations.

Friday’s case was the second prominent example of the state cracking down on free expression this week, after India’s film censor ordered a documentary about Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate, be modified to remove words including “cow” and “Hindu India”.

India has a lively and relatively free public discourse but critics of Modi argue space to criticise the policies of his rightwing nationalist government is shrinking.

Watchdog groups have flagged a surge in the number of sedition cases filed against activists, self-censorship by media outlets during recent tensions with neighbouring Pakistan, and raids in June on the founders of a television channel that is critical of the government.