NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court on Friday stated that the internet ban in occupied Jammu and Kashmir without limiting it to a particular duration is not only a violation of the telecom rules, but also of freedom of speech and expression granted by the constitution.

According to The Wire news portal, a three-judge bench comprising Justices N.V. Ramana, R. Subhash Reddy and B.R. Gavai pointed out that freedom of speech and expression includes the right to receive and disseminate information.

They were responding to a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Centre’s decision to impose a lockdown in India-held Jammu and Kashmir following reading down of Article 370 in August last year.

The apex court asked the J&K administration to review all restrictive orders imposed within a week.

A separate petition challenging the constitutionality of Indian government’s act of suspending Jammu and Kashmir’s privileged rights is pending before the court.

The internet has been suspended for more than 150 days in Kashmir, making it the longest blackout in any democracy, The Wire said.

The court asked the administration to publish every order of restriction under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to enable those affected by them to challenge it. The bench added that any order passed would be subject to judicial review.

The court also observed that trade and commerce were dependent on the internet, and the freedom to practice such trade is constitutionally protected under Article 19(1)(g).

The bench said the government should follow the principles of proportionality to adopt less restrictive measures.

Justice Ramana began delivering the judgement by saying that the court had not “delved into the political intent behind the prohibitory orders”.

“Our limited concern is to find a balance regarding security and liberty of people. We are only here to ensure citizens are provided their rights. We will not delve into the political intent behind the orders given,” he said, according to LiveLaw.

“Kashmir has seen a lot of violence. We will try our best to balance the human rights and freedoms with the issue of security,” he added.

The bench had reserved its judgement on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the lockdown in Kashmir on November 27. Petitions had been filed by Anuradha Bhasin, the executive editor of Kashmir Times, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and some others.

The petitioners argued that the restrictions imposed by the government failed to satisfy the tests of reasonableness and proportionality, which were laid down by the apex court in an earlier case.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2020