The ‘ban’ of Internet: Who is going to compensate the lost?
- Imphal Times Editorial :: February 13 2019 -

Banning the internet (data service) is becoming an instrument of the present government to control any public uprising or agitation against the government.

This is perhaps the second time that the N. Biren Singh administration has shut down internet service (data) in the state.

Similar ban to the data internet service was done by the N. Biren Singh administration when the state witnessed mass protest against the then VC of Manipur University by the University community which was later joined by the people of the state.

Everybody knows – the ban is to control the present uprising by the people against the passing of the contentious CAB.

Can they do that by banning the data internet service? And if they can’t had they every calculated the lost due to the banning. And who will recover and compensate the lost of those whose business is depended on Internet service.

Seems like the Biren Singh Administration seem to have forgotten that holding back access to the internet, deemed a basic human right by the United Nations is frustrating as these shutdowns threaten the democratic working of nations, and also point to the steady normalization of the mindset that permits such blanket restriction on Internet access.

International human rights law protects the right of people to freely seek, receive, and provide information and ideas through all media, including the internet.

Security-related restrictions must be law-based and a necessary and proportionate response to a specific security concern.

India has witnessed numerous Internet shutdowns for various reasons, all under the same provision of law - Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

This section resides as the sole occupant under the chapter of ‘temporary instrument to maintain public tranquility’ and gives State Governments the power to issue orders for immediate remedy in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger.

However, the increasing use of this provision to completely shut down the Internet is becoming a cause of concern, for the reason that it amounts to a direct violation of the fundamental right to freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.

The Current ban on Cellular Data in Manipur which was imposed since today morning by the Government amidst the present volatile situation without considering the pros and cons of it may be term as a thoughtless and ignorant. While the whole of country is talking about digital India, the internet bans make the auspicious project of the central government as meaningless.

Majority of the Internet users in Manipur relies on Cellular data.

Be it using social media sites, doing business transaction or purchasing goods, most of the people uses their Smartphone using Cellular data.

All these have been disrupted with the current Internet ban.

Adding to the woes is the disabling of SMS for all service providers. SMS also plays an important role with cashless transaction.

For example, when doing an online purchase through Internet banking, Debit Card or Credit card, one needs a special code called One Time Password (OTP) that is delivered to the users registered number at the time of transaction and this has been disabled too with the current Internet/SMS ban.

It may be mentioned that the ban on SMS is to prevent any dissemination of unwanted message through this medium.

One wonders, who uses SMS in this era of WhatsApp and Facebook to exchange messages.

If the Government thinks it is necessary to disable SMS to prevent from circulating unwanted messages, they could do so by disabling outgoing message and enabling incoming message.

That way it would not disrupt anything.