Tamil media organisation Vikatan is mulling legal action as its website continues to be blocked after it published a cartoon online that criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump.

In a statement on X on February 27, Vikatan said its website has been blocked since the evening of February 15. 

“The Information and Broadcasting Ministry of the central government implemented this blockage without providing any formal notification to Vikatan,” the statement said. 

Vikatan had provided the ministry with a “detailed explanation” after an “inquiry” was held on February 20. 

“Subsequently, on the night of February 25, the final order from the central government’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry regarding this matter was sent to Vikatan. In response, Vikatan is now consulting legal experts to determine appropriate next steps,” the statement said. “The publication is pursuing all legal avenues to both defend freedom of expression and restore access to the website.”

The cartoon in question had been published on the Vikatan website on February 10. It depicted Modi in shackles sitting next to Trump in the context of Indians being handcuffed while being deported from the United States.

Shortly before, the state BJP had filed complaints about the cartoon with the Press Council of India and union minister of state in the I&B ministry. State president Annamalai complained that the cartoon was published to “please the ruling DMK government” and “cast a shadow on the diplomatic progress” made by Modi in the United States.

He also said freedom of speech “does not give the right to newspapers to write about an institution or individual untrue facts even on a lighter note”.

The Hindu later reported that the magazine’s website was blocked by the I&B ministry “through a referral to the Department of Telecommunications”. Vikatan said that officials had “visited Vikatan’s registered office” on February 15, shortly after the website was blocked, “to inquire whether Vikatan Plus was available in print”. The organisation clarified the property was digital only.

The Editors Guild had slammed the website’s blocking, saying the “entire episode smacks of high-handedness and militates against the cherished ideals of a free press”.

Newslaundry had interviewed cartoonists Manjul and Rachita Taneja on the changing political atmosphere in India and how cartoons are censored by the government. Watch the discussion here.

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