Manipur HC Directs Govt To Partially Lift Ban On Internet With Safeguards

The Manipur High Court on Saturday directed the state government to partially lift the ban on internet even as the ethnic violence continued.

The high court also asked the state government to carry out physical trials and check the feasibility of allowing internet on mobile phones while ensuring the security of “life and property of citizens.”

The court will hear the matter on July 25 and asked for a detailed report from the Manipur government.

“In the case of Fibre To The Home (FTTH) connections, internet service can be provided by the home department on a case to case basis,” a bench of Justice A Bimol and Justice A Guneshwor Sharma said after hearing multiple PILs on the internet ban.

The bench added that during its consideration the Manipur government must ensure the compliance of the safeguards suggested by the committee.

Earlier, a 12-member expert committee had informed the high court that internet can be provided to the people of Manipur through broadband connections, either through Internet Leased Line (ILL) or FTTH by ensuring “static IP, banning of Wifi/Hotspots from any of the routers or system, blocking of social media websites and VPNs at the local level, removal of VPN software from the system and prohibiting the installation of new software by any user and enforcing physical monitoring by the concerned authority/officials.”

Meanwhile, two persons were injured while two vehicles were torched since Friday night. A farmer was hit by a bullet when he had gone to cultivate paddy at Phubala in the Meitei-majority Bishnupur district on Saturday.

In another incident, a teenager from Kwakta in the same district sustained splinter injuries when a mortar fired by the miscreants from the foothill area hit his house. In Imphal, a mob torched two vehicles near the Kangla Fort on Friday night.