A satirical website called Dowry Calculator is called "quite creative" by the Delhi High Court

Case: Tanul Thakur v. Union of India

The owner of a satirical website named 'Dowry Calculator' has filed a plea before the Delhi High Court challenging the government's decision to block their website. The court has issued notice to the Central government in response to this plea.

The Delhi High Court has set a date for a hearing on May 15 and has asked the government and the petitioner to file their written submissions in the case. The website in question, 'Dowry Calculator,' was created by Tanul Thakur in 2011 but was blocked by the government in July 2018 following a complaint from then Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi.

In May 2022, the Delhi High Court directed a committee constituted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) to give the owner of the website, Tanul Thakur, a post-decision hearing regarding the blocking order of the website. The committee was likely tasked with reviewing the decision to block the website and considering any new information or arguments presented by Thakur.

MEITY wrote to Thakur in June last year to inform him that the committee had recommended that the Ministry retain its decision to block Dowry Calculator.

The recommendation of the committee to block the website had been accepted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the website remains blocked today. The website owner, Tanul Thakur, is represented by Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal in the court. According to Aggarwal, the website was created to satirize the social evil of dowry and not to defame India in the eyes of the world, but the government's stance is that the website will have that effect.

According to Justice Singh, the website appeared "quite creative".

Due to the absence of counsel appearing for the Union of India, the case was scheduled for a further hearing in May.