EGI Statement on blocking of Vikatan.com

The Editors Guild of India

Press Statement

February 18, 2025

The Editors Guild of India is deeply shocked by the recent blocking of the Tamil magazine web portal Vikatan.Com, without any prior due process, by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) over the publication of a cartoon depicting the prime minister.

Cartoons have always been a legitimate means of journalistic endeavour and the sudden blocking of the Vikatan website is a brazen instance of overreach by the authorities.

What is more deplorable is the abrupt manner in which access to the entire web portal was blocked, purportedly, after the state head of a political party complained to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), against the said cartoon. No prior notices were issued and no opportunity was given to Ananda Vikatan - the group behind the web portal