Vikatan said its website was blocked on the same day that Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai filed a complaint against the magazine for publishing a cartoon criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Published Feb 18, 2025 | 12:29 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 18, 2025 | 12:29 PM
Union government blocked website of Vikatan.
Synopsis: The website of Tamil Magazine Vikatan was blocked by the Union government on 15 February over publishing a cartoon criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The magazine has detailed the series of events that that led to the blocking and what happened after that.
Following the Union government blocking its website, Tamil magazine Vikatan on Tuesday, 18 February, detailed the events that led to the action. It said the website was blocked on the same day that Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai filed a complaint against the magazine for publishing a cartoon criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On 10 February, Vikatan published a cartoon criticising Modi’s silence on the US handcuffing illegal Indian immigrants while deporting them. On 15 February, Annamalai filed a complaint against it and the website’s access in India was blocked.
Meanwhile, the Chennai Press Club announced a protest at 4 pm on Tuesday condemning the blocking of Vikatan’s website as a violation of free speech.
The protest, set to take place at the Chennai Press Club premises, demands the restoration of access to the website and urges the government to uphold freedom of expression. Journalists and supporters are called to stand in solidarity with the Vikatan Group and defend press freedom.
10 February 2025: Vikatan published the cartoon criticising Narendra Modi.
15 February: Annamalai filed a complaint with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) and the Press Council of India, alleging that the cartoon was objectionable.
Press Bureau of India officials visited Vikatan‘s registered office to inquire whether Vikatan Plus was available in print. It was clarified that the magazine was a digital-only publication.
The magazine clarified that its technical team detected a sudden drop in website traffic and escalated the issue to its domain service provider and Internet Service Provider (ISP), but no clear response was received.
16 February: Vikatan management formally reached out to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for clarification on the domain blockage.
“By 5.59 pm, the MIB informed Vikatan about an upcoming Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) meeting under the IT Rules, 2021, to review the blocking of content,” the magazine officials said.
17 February: Vikatan requested an extension till 20 February to prepare a response and sought the exact reasons for the blocking order. The MIB confirmed that the website was blocked on 15 February but refused to disclose details of the IDC proceedings, citing confidentiality. While granting time until 20 February for Vikatan to respond, the ministry stated that the emergency blocking orders would remain in effect.
🚨 Vikatan Cartoon Row: What Happened So Far? A Timeline of Events – What Comes Next?#VikatanAgainstOppression | #VikatanForFreedomOfExpression pic.twitter.com/qtdEw3U4kf
— விகடன் (@vikatan) February 18, 2025
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
