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The Manipur High Court has directed the state government to partially lift the Internet ban in the state by providing services through Internet Lease Line, subject to restriction to be decided by an expert committee.
This order was passed by the court on Friday while hearing a set of petitions against the suspension of Internet services after violence broke out in the state. The court stated that it is of the view that its directions would be in the interest of the public to mitigate their hardships in the face of the complete ban of Internet services in place in the state since May 3 while at the same time “ensuring the security of the state and safety of the life and properties of the citizens”.
It directed the Home Department to lift the ban on providing Internet service through Internet Lease Line (ILL) after ensuring that the stakeholders have complied with a set of safeguards recommended by an expert committee.
These safeguards include banning of Wifi/hotspots from any of the routers and systems; blocking of social media websites and VPNs at the local level; ensuring a dedicated lease line or FTTH line with static IP; removing any existing VPNs softwares from the system and prohibiting installation of new softwares by any user.
The court also stated that Internet services through Fibre To The Home could be provided on a case to case basis. Another option being explored is to provide Internet services to specially identified or white-listed mobile numbers. The court directed the government to carry out physical trials to explore the feasibility of this “without jeopardising the security of the state ”. Following this trial, it has directed the government to submit a report on the same before the date of the next hearing, on July 25.
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