We addressed a letter to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, travelling to Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The letter highlighted that the government was repeatedly shutting down the internet in J&K without complying with the Supreme Court’s directions in Anuradha Bhasin vs Union of India. In that case, the Supreme Court, amongst other things, held that the Government must publish any order restricting internet access to facilitate judicial review. However, as we informed the Committee, there have been several shutdowns in J&K without publication of such orders. We have asked the Committee to raise this issue with the Government. Incidentally and unfortunately, as the Committee visited J&K, the government ordered widespread suspension of internet services.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://internetfreedom.in/ahead-of-its-visit-to-j-k-iff-apprised-the-parliamentary-standing-committee-on-it-of-repeated-internet-shutdowns/