Madras High court orders unblocking of 18 X URLs in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered the Tamil Nadu government to unblock 18 X URLs and granted interim relief on a plea filed by P Chockalingam alleging that the blocking of sites curtailed political criticism, satire and democratic discussion.

The vacation bench, comprising Justices L Victoria Gowri and N Senthil Kumar, granted an interim stay on the order. The bench also directed the Tamil Nadu government and the police to file their responses to the plea and posted the matter to June 8.

In his plea, Chockalingam (55), who is the president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, stated that the Tamil Nadu government had issued a notice on May 8, ordering to block multiple X URLs, purportedly under Section 79 (3) (b) of the Information Technology Act.

The petitioner submitted that the directive also required removal or blocking within three hours, making it appear wholly disproportionate, particularly in the absence of any disclosed emergency, imminent threat of violence, or extraordinary circumstance affecting public order. The petitioner also sought a directive to the Cyber Crime Wing to quash the order.

During the hearing, the petitioner's counsel argued that blocking the 18 URLs curtailed lawful political criticism, satire and democratic discussion.