India’s federal government on Monday barred the telecast of Malayalam news channel MediaOne citing “security reasons”, but the Kerala High Court stayed the implementation of the order for two days.

The government move drew the ire of many in the country with the Opposition Congress Party terming the move as “undemocratic”, PTI reported from Kochi.

“The telecast of MediaOne channel has once again been disallowed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, citing security reasons. The Government has not been forthcoming with the details,” Pramod Raman, the Editor of MediaOne, said in a statement, according to the news agency report.

When contacted, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) officials confirmed that the channel has been banned but did not share any further details.

The media house challenged the order before the Kerala High Court, which put on hold its implementation for two days.

While putting on hold the order, Justice N Nagaresh also sought the federal government’s stand on the plea, moved by Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd., which operates MediaOne channel.

The media company’s counsels told the high court that the channel was not involved in any anti-national activity and urged it to direct the ministry to withdraw the order.

Speaking to PTI, Rakesh said the ministry’s order was received around 1 pm on Monday and by 1.45 pm the plea was filed. By 3 pm permission was granted for urgent hearing of the matter.

Rakesh confirmed that the court put on hold the order till Wednesday, the next date of hearing. Assistant Solicitor General S Manu, who appeared for the ministry, said he opposed the plea and sought time from the court to get appropriate instructions from the government.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Kerala State Assembly, V D Satheesan, slammed the MIB move.

“The banning of telecast of MediaOne channel without citing any reason was undemocratic. This is against natural justice. The Union government has a responsibility to cite the reason behind the ban. The government is trying to implement the agenda of Sangh Parivar, which has been intolerant against unpleasant truths,” he said, adding the ban amounts to an attack on media freedom.

MediaOne, along with another Malayalam News channel, Asianet, was briefly suspended for 48 hours over their coverage of communal violence in Delhi in 2020, with the official orders then saying they covered the violence in a manner that “highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community”.