CHENNAI: Madras HC Thursday directed Union government to unblock Tamil journal Ananda Vikatan‘s website, which had been blocked after it published online an offensive cartoon showing PM Narendra Modi.
The cartoon was published during Modi’s visit to the US and his summit meeting with US President Donald Trump, and coincided with illegal immigrants from India being deported from the US.
Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy granted the interim relief to the magazine with a rider that the cartoon should be removed. Since only the caricature in question appears to be objectionable, the rest of the magazine can remain accessible, the court said.
The court’s order came on a plea moved by the magazine challenging Centre’s action of blocking access to its website. The magazine’s counsel, Vijay Narayan, submitted that the website was blocked without giving a proper opportunity to respond to the allegation. Narayan argued that as per Section 69A of Information Technology Act, it will not be sufficient to block access to a website merely because sovereignty is affected; it is also necessary that the integrity of the country is compromised. “The cartoon published by the magazine did not fall under any of the reasons cited under the law for blocking public access to information,” he added.
No damage was caused to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, and no harm befell the friendly relations between India and the US due to the publication of the cartoon, Narayan said.
Opposing the plea, additional solicitor-general of India A R L Sundaresan said the cartoon would affect India’s relations with the US. “Article 19(2) of the Constitution and Section 69A of the IT Act provide for reasonable restriction on content if it is satisfied that such restriction is necessary in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India,” he said.