Hope citizens' rights are upheld, says Tharoor as SC to hear Centre's appeal against relaxation of Manipur internet ban

New Delhi, July 16: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday the Centre's appeal against a Manipur High Court order, relaxing the draconian ban on the internet that has crippled digital life in the state for the last three months.

Referring to this, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in a tweet on Sunday expressed hope that the apex court will uphold the rights of citizens.

He went on to add that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology had sharply observed in 2022 that there is no justification provided by the government that demonstrates in any way that internet shutdowns actually impede, let alone prevent, violence or terrorism anywhere. 

"It is a reflexive bureaucratic action that causes far more inconvenience to ordinary citizens than a useful security measure," he said, adding that "It is bizarre that India is the only democracy in the world that routinely resorts to internet shutdowns for extended periods of time, with no appreciable effect on violence, but causing considerable inconvenience to ordinary citizens."

The Thiruvananthapuram MP expressed hope that "the Supreme Court will stand up for the rights of citizens rather than for the blinkered babus who are completely indifferent to the impact of their decisions on citizens who use the internet for banking, credit card transactions, enrolments, examinations, and to obtain all kinds of vital information." 

"The Court must end this awful practice now!" Tharoor urged.