Political commentator Kumar Nayan has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the blocking of his satirical X account, @Nehr_who, in India on the directions of the Union government.
Nayan has alleged that the account was blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over allegedly objectionable posts, but that he was not given the blocking order, reasons for the action or supporting documents.
The account had more than 2.5 lakh followers when it was withheld in India.
Nayan Challenges Blocking Under IT Act
According to his plea, X informed Nayan on July 27 that it was acting on a blocking order issued by the ministry under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
Section 69A allows the Union government to direct intermediaries to block online content in specified circumstances, including concerns related to national security, sovereignty and public order.
The ministry issued Nayan a notice on July 28 proposing to block the account and provided links to posts that it allegedly relied on for the action, according to Live Law.
However, Nayan has claimed that the actual blocking order was never provided to him, including during proceedings before the inter departmental committee on August 7.
Account Was Previously Blocked
The @Nehr_who account was also among several X accounts blocked in India on March 18.
On April 6, the Delhi High Court ordered the restoration of Nayan’s account along with that of another political commentator. However, the court directed that the posts identified in the blocking order should remain withheld.
Nayan was also directed to appear before a review committee of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to examine whether the restrictions on the posts should continue.
Plea Seeks Blocking Orders and Documents
Nayan has alleged that despite the court’s earlier direction, he was never provided with the March blocking order.
He has argued that the July action cannot be viewed separately from the earlier blocking and amounts to repeated restrictions on his ability to express himself through the platform.
The commentator has also contended that the blocking violates his constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, equality, the right to practise a profession and personal liberty.
Nayan has asked the Delhi High Court to direct the authorities to provide documents related to the blocking and to quash the orders withholding his account.
