Manipur govt extends Internet suspension for 9th time in 44 days

Amidst sporadic incidents of violence, the Manipur government on Thursday extended the suspension of Internet services for the ninth time till June 20, to prevent the spread of rumours and videos, photos, and messages, which might affect the law and order situation.

Manipur Home Department Commissioner T. Ranjit Singh, in a notification, said that to thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements and to maintain peace and communal harmony and to prevent any loss of life or danger to public/private property, it has become necessary to take adequate measures to maintain law and order.

"... spread of disinformation and rumours, through various social media platforms... on various electronic equipments like tablet, computer, mobile phone etc. and sending bulk SMS, for facilitating and/or mobilisation of mobs of agitators and demonstrators, which can cause loss of life and/or damage to public/private property by indulging in arson/vandalism and other types of violent activities," Singh said in his notification.

The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) last week asked the state government to consider restoration of internet services which had been suspended since the ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3.

MHRC Chairperson Justice Utpalendu Bikash Saha and member K.K. Singh, in an order, asked the Home Commissioner to consider restoration of Internet services in Manipur for providing benefits to the citizens to balance the security of the state and the right to freedom of expression.

The rights panel issued the order following a complaint from Kammingthang Hangshingan, an Aizawl resident, on the suspension of Internet services in Churachandpur district of Manipur last month. The complaint called it a "human rights violation".

Various organisations, including the opposition Congress, have been demanding immediate restoration of Internet service in Manipur.

Chongtham Victor Singh, an advocate with the Manipur High Court, recently filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the mechanical and repeated shutdown of the Internet in Manipur.

The petition had said when the government claimed that the state was returning to normalcy, the same state authority continued to suspend the internet services.

As people of the strife-torn state have been facing shortage of various essentials, transport fuel, cooking gas and life-saving drugs, disturbances in banking and online facilities shattering the normal life, the Internet suspension for one-and-a-half months across the mountainous state further added to the miseries of the people.