Cartoonist Manjul, known for making political cartoons, recently received a notice from Twitter that says that that the Indian government saw his handle in violation of Indian laws.
Sharing a screenshot of the email from Twitter, Manjul (@MANJULtoons) sarcastically tweeted, βJai ho Modi sarkaar ki (Hail the Modi government).β
The notice said, βIn the interest of transparency, we are writing to inform you that Twitter has received a request from Indian law enforcement regarding your Twitter account, @MANJULtoons, that claims the following content violates the law(s) of India."
The statement further reads, "We have not taken any action on the reported content at this time as a result of this request. As Twitter strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users, it is our policy to notify our users if we receive a legal request from an authorized entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account.β
Photo: Twitter/@MANJULtoons
In a series of tweets, Manjul challenged, βFortunately, the Modi government did not say that Twitter should shut down the handle; that this cartoonist is unrighteous, an atheist; that he does not see Modi as god.β
He added, βIt would have been good if the government had said which tweet it has a problem with. Something similar could have been done then.β
The Indian government is gaining a lot of criticism for this action against the cartoonist.
Here's how people are reacting. Have a look.