Arguments against
♤ Internet activists, law experts, and human rights agencies suggest that there is no real evidence of Internet shutdown actually helping in preventing mass protests or civil unrest.
♤ Internet shutdowns make human rights a hostage to the whims of the executive: the fundamental rights to speech, conduct business, access healthcare, express dissent, and movement of the people in a state, are compromised.
♤ Shutting the internet results is an information blackout that can also create hysteria, panic
and can result in even more discord.
Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Service) Rules, 2017 (Suspension Rules) ♤ These Rules were framed by ministry of communications and derive their powers from Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, which talks about interception of messages in the “interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India”. ♤ It empowers the government to block transmission of messages in case of a public emergency or for public safety in any part of the country. ♤ Any order suspending internet under the Rules, can be only for a temporary duration and not for an indefinite period. ♤ Directions to suspend the telecom services shall not be issued except by Home Secretary of the country and a secretary of a state’s home department and that order should be taken up by a review committee within five days. UN Resolution on Internet Shutdown ♤ In 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council released a non-binding resolution condemning intentional disruption of internet access by governments. ♤ The resolution reaffirmed that "the same rights people have offline must also be protected online”. |
