Around 7.30 PM last night, two Malayalam news channels - Media One and Asianet News, were taken off air. According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the channels' coverage on February 25, the third day of the Delhi riots, violated provisions of the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994. The Rules bar programmes which contain an “attack on religions or communities” or "visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which promote communal attitudes”. According to the ministry, the channels violated these clauses, as well as the rule that bars programmes that “incite violence or contain anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote anti-national attitude.” To understand the undercurrents of this issue better, we spoke to Mr Sashi Kumar, editor in chief of Asiaville News, Chairman of Asian College of Journalism, and founder of Asianet.

I spoke to Amit today, our ground reporter and political editor, about the violence he witnessed in North East Delhi, during the communal riots that have claimed over 50 lives so far.