Madras High Court tells Centre to unblock Ananda Vikatan website after removal of 'offensive' cartoon

The Madras High Court on Thursday passed an interim order directing the Central government to unblock the website of Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, provided a cartoon flagged as objectionable by the government is removed from the website. .Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order on a plea filed by Ananda Vikatan seeking directions to restore its website (www.vikatan.com) after it was blocked by the Central government in the second week of February. .Ananda Vikatan contended that the blocking action was taken without giving it a proper opportunity to oppose the move, while the Centre has cited a satirical cartoon published on the website as the basis for the blocking action.The cartoon in question featured a depiction of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.The satirical cartoon was deemed by the Centre to be detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India and its friendly relations with foreign states, especially the United States of America..The Court today granted Ananda Vikatan interim relief by ordering that its website could be restored for now, subject to further orders and provided that the caricature is removed. It reasoned that since the caricature in question appears to be the only objectionable content, the rest of the magazine can remain accessible to subscribers.To this end, the Court has ordered Ananda Vikatan to email the Central government confirming that it has removed the objectionable pages. The block of the website thereafter shall be lifted without waiting for a certified copy of the Court's order, Justice Chakravarthy added..Senior Advocate Vijay Narayan and Advocate Rahul Unnikrishnan appeared for Ananda Vikatan today. Other counsel representing the magazine include Advocates Apar Gupta, Gayatri T and Jannani M..Ananda Vikatan has submitted that it had already tried to explain to the Central government that its cartoon was a form of political satire that was tied to the mistreatment of Indian deportees from the United States.Political satire is a long-standing form of fair comment on socio-political realities and it plays a fundamental role in democracies, the magazine said.It added that even if the satirical cartoon is deemed to be objectionable, blocking the entire Ananda Vikatan website was unjustified, disproportionate and excessive. Such a move results in the suppression of critical journalism, it argued..The Central government’s counsel, meanwhile, maintained that the cartoon was liable to be blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act), since it affected India's sovereignty and integrity and its friendly relations with a foreign government. This was a reasonable restriction on fundamental rights, he said. He also sought two weeks to file the government’s reply.The Court allowed the request and observed that it has to examine whether the caricature in question falls under artistic and journalistic freedom or whether it is covered under Section 69A of the IT Act.The matter will be heard next on March 21.Additional Solicitor General of India AR L Sundaresan assisted by Deputy Solicitor General of India Rajesh Vivekananthan represented the Central government..[Read Order]