Chennai, Mar 7 (UNI) The Madras High Court has directed the Union Government to restore the website of popular Tamil magazine ‘Ananda Vikatan’, which was blocked following publication of a controversial cartoon on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent US visit.
While directing the I and B Ministry to restore the blocked website, the Court also ordered that the magazine should temporarily remove/delete the cartoon, which had triggered strong objections from the BJP for depicting and belittling Mr Modi in a demeaning manner.
According to reports received here on Friday morning, the Magazine’s website has been restored following the court order and the controversial cartoon was removed.
The Magazine, which has a legacy of over early a century, had published a satirical cartoon depicting Mr Modi, shackled in chains, with US President Donald Trump during his recent US visit.
Passing interim orders on a petition filed by the Ananda Vikatan group of publications, challenging the Centre’s February 25 order blocking the website and seeking a direction of the Union I&B Ministry to restore public access to the website, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the government to lift the ban on the magazine portal www.vikatan.com, and asked the website to temporarily take down the cover page with the cartoon.
The Judge held that public access to the entire website need not be blocked until the court decided whether the publication of the cartoon fell within the ambit of freedom of expression or whether it affected friendly relations with foreign nations.
He made it clear that the Ministry, without waiting for a court order, should restore the website once the magazine removed the controversial cartoon.
