Delhi HC orders MeitY to give copy of ban order and hearing to Mr Tanul Thakur for banning his website #WhatTheBlock

tl;dr

Mr Tanul Thakur's satirical website, dowrycalculator.com was banned by an order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeitY’) without providing him a hearing or even a copy of the ban order. Mr Thakur challenged this censorship action before the Delhi High Court. On 11th May 2022, the Court extensively heard Advocate Vrinda Bhandari, who represented Mr Thakur, and directed MeitY to provide Mr Thakur a copy of the ban order and a post-decisional hearing under the Information Technology (Procedure and safeguards for blocking of Access of Information by public) Rules, 2009 (“Blocking Rules, 2009”). The order is significant because MeitY never publishes its censorship orders and rarely, if ever, provides a hearing. IFF has provided legal assistance to Mr Thakur in the proceedings before the Delhi HC.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/delhi-hc-directs-meity-to-provide-a-copy-of-the-blocking-order-and-a-post-decisional-hearing-to-mr-tanul-thakur-whattheblock/