For nearly three months, the Indian state of Manipur had been raked with bloody violence between the majority Hindu Meitei and predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribes. But when a shocking 26-second video—which showed armed Meitei men stripping two Kuki women and parading them naked through the streets of Kangpokpi district—went viral in mid-July, the crisis sparked international condemnation and finally broke the Indian government’s silence.

On Friday, August 11, the state of Manipur, marks 100 since the ethnic conflict between the Kuki-Zomi tribes and the Meiteis began. The state has also been under mobile internet shutdown for the past 100 days, with no clear end in sight on how long it will continue. On July 25 broadband internet was restored after a High Court order, but in effect the internet usage in the state remained suspended as only 3% of users used broadband.

Internet restrictions have been imposed in the Indian state of Manipur following the outbreak of ethnic clashes and communal violence between Kuki tribal groups and the majority Meitei community. The order took effect on 3 May and was only partially lifted after 83 days for broadband internet services. The prolonged shutdown has disrupted local businesses, schooling, and delivery of services. IFEX member SFLC.in described the situation in Manipur as a “textbook case as to how shutdowns only exacerbate harms.” It added that the partial lifting of the order only benefited a small number, since 96 percent of users rely on mobile internet.

In this episode, we delve into the recent events surrounding the internet shutdown in Manipur, India, which lasted a staggering 83 days, raising critical questions about the impact of such measures on law and order. On Tuesday, July 25th, 2023, the Manipur government finally issued a conditional order lifting the internet ban, but with significant restrictions.

Initially enforced on May 3rd for a mere 5 days, the ban's extension was repeatedly justified by the government citing law and order concerns. However, the recent national outcry over a viral video of two Kuki women being sexually assaulted brought to fore discussions if internet shutdowns truly help stop violence; While there is a partial restoration of broadband services, mobile internet services continue to remain suspended.

Internet shutdowns in India have gained worldwide notoriety for their arbitrary nature of imposition. To better understand the implications of this conditional restoration and the broader context of internet shutdowns, Suno India Editor-in-Chief Padma Priya reached out to conversation Radhika Jhalani, a volunteer legal counsel associated with the Software Freedom Law Centre India (SFLC) one of India’s oldest digital rights organizations. SFLC maintains the Internet Shutdowns Tracker, providing real-time data and documentation of shutdown instances across the country.

In this episode, we explore the effectiveness of internet shutdowns in maintaining law and order, the significance of the imposed conditions, and the impact on freedom of speech and internet liberties in Manipur and beyond.

When videos of two women being paraded naked and assaulted in India’s Manipur went viral last week on social media, the remote northeastern state had been cut off from internet access for nearly three months.

The attack took place on May 4, but the videos of the women being dragged and groped by armed men before what onlookers say was a gang rape, surfaced last week. Authorities said they are investigating the incident and have arrested several men.

Officials imposed a statewide internet shutdown on May 3, saying it was needed to curb rumours and disinformation, and quell violent ethnic clashes that have killed at least 125 people and displaced tens of thousands.

But the internet ban in the state - among the longest in India to date - has made it difficult to alert authorities and journalists to rights violations, many of them directed at women, activists say.

Speaking with The Citizen, Mishi Choudhary Founder of SLFC.in, a crowd funded legal services organisation to protect freedom in the digital world, said that despite the internet shutdown the violence could not be controlled for 80 days in the state and raises serious questions towards the government. “This is the first action you (government) use in your tool kit, whenever there is a peaceful protest or if there is a kind of inkling that there might be certain law and order tensions. The government needs to provide justification because their claim is never backed up by actual evidence,” she said. Choudhary said that despite the internet shutdown things are worse in the state. “I don’t know what could have been worse,” she said, adding that the internet in today’s India is both a luxury and also public utility.

 

It took nearly 78 days for news from Manipur to reach the world.  The paroxysm of rage and shame that echoed across India has now been felt quite literally throughout humanity because such is the nature of the internet. The reason why the incidents of violence from the state were hidden from us for so long is that the government of India, more often and more drastically than any other democracy, feels empowered to shut down the internet.

Mobile internet services were banned on May 3 and broadband services the next day after ethnic clashes between two communities–Meitei and Kuki–flared in the state, which killed over 140 people, mostly Kukis, and thousands displaced.

“The Order also has no end date, a clear violation of the principle established in Anuradha Bhasin v UoI, which stated that an order suspending internet services indefinitely is impermissible under the Suspension Rules,” alleged SFLC, a group advocating digital freedom in India.

Manipur has now witnessed the longest internet shutdown in India in 2023. It's been 83 days since the state has been without the Net amid the ongoing ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kukis. Manipur's blackout was put in the spotlight following a shocking viral video that surfaced late in July. The video, showing two Kuki-Zo women being paraded naked and molested by a large mob, made its way to Twitter more than two months after the actual incident. And this could be chalked up to the shutdown in the state. 

Manipur has now witnessed the longest internet shutdown in India in 2023. It's been 83 days since the state has been without the Net amid the ongoing ethnic clashes between Meiteis and Kukis. Manipur's blackout was put in the spotlight following a shocking viral video that surfaced late in July. The video, showing two Kuki-Zo women being paraded naked and molested by a large mob, made its way to Twitter more than two months after the actual incident. And this could be chalked up to the shutdown in the state. 

The shame of India is just beginning. It took about 78 days for the news of sexual violence from Manipur to finally reach us. The Chief Minister of Manipur says that there are hundreds of videos documenting crimes such as the one we have seen recently.

Numerous pieces have now been written, social media posts have been posted, and WhatsApp messages have been forwarded. As the Central government was forced to react, even the troll armies have been activated to put a divisive spin on the inhumane violence that has plagued Manipur for the past 80 days.

Bar & Bench spoke to the founder of Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), Mishi Choudhary to find out more about this scenario and internet shutdowns in general.

SFLC has been at the forefront of the developments in digital freedom in the country for over a decade. They also run internetshutdowns.in, a website that tracks internet shutdowns in India.

The website has documented a total of 25 shutdowns across districts in Manipur, as on July 21.

The Manipur incident raises questions about the Centre’s Internet shutdown rules, say internet activists. The video of the crime against the two women from the minority Kuki community emerged nearly 70 days after the incident because the internet services have been suspended for more than two months in the north eastern state.

Are blanket bans during strifes — as seen in Kashmir and Manipur — necessary? Delicate balancing between the citizen’s right to access the internet and the state's duty to deal with public emergencies is imperative, says Supreme Court advocate Pavan Duggal and legal counsel at Software Freedom Law Centre Radhika Jhalani in The Federal’s panel discussion. The experts discuss how the government can handle misinformation spread without imposing internet bans.

Internet shutdowns across the country have cost India more in the first six months of 2023 than in the whole of previous year.

In monetary terms, the total value of Internet shutdowns touched $255.2 million by June 2023, while it was $184.3 million in 2022, according to the data from global tracker Top10VPN.

Amid an ongoing ethnic clash between the Meitei community and the Kuki tribe in Manipur, the state government on June 15 extended the Internet ban till June 20 to maintain law and order.

The continuing violence in Manipur between the majority Meitei community and the hills’ tribal Kuki groups has inflicted heavy collateral damage in an unexpected area: internet communication. The state government, unable to control the flare-up, cut internet connectivity on the 3rd of May and has since been extending it from time to time.

Among the many reasons given in its latest order extending the ban till 20 June, the Commissioner (Home}, Government of Manipur, says “some anti-social elements may use social media extensively to transmit images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public..”

DH Web Desk, JUN 19 2023, 17:33 ISTUPDATED: JUN 19 2023, 21:01 IST Representative Image. Credit: iStock Photo India has incurred greater financial losses in 2023 due to internet shutdowns compared to the entire previous year, Business Standard report

 

Internet shutdowns cause economic losses and shrinking livelihoods.
 

“The contribution of internet for the well-being of citizens has to be balanced with social media platforms being misused by anti-social elements requiring temporary internet shutdowns, as per the rules based on the assessment by Local (State/UT Government) Authorities,” says the Indian government when Parliament members asked whether suspension of telecom services goes against Digital India schemes. On March 29, 2023, in view of the recent internet suspensions in India, members of Parliament asked the Ministry of Communications and the IT Ministry about the following: Data on internet suspensions in India in the last five and nine years. The IT Ministry was asked for the reasons for such shutdowns. Whether or not the authorities are following the Supreme Court’s (SC) guidelines on internet suspensions laid out in Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India. Whether or not the government has taken cognizance of the economic impact caused by suspension of telecom services and the ways in which it affects individual privacy. 

Punjab residents have been living under an internet shutdown since March 18, 2023 noon. Worse still, the suspension of mobile services that was meant to go on for 24 hours since Saturday was extended to March 20 noon as per a report by the Indian Express. Digital rights groups on the internet have spoken out against this order, calling it a violation of Supreme Court guidelines regarding internet shutdowns.

Internet, SMS and dongle services suspended: As per the newspaper report, the shutdown was called amidst a crackdown on self-proclaimed Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh – who is on the run – and his associates. While the initial order from the state home department does not mention Singh specifically, it suspends “all mobile internet services (2G/3G/4G/5G/CDMA/GPRS), all SMS services (excluding banking and mobile recharge) and all dongle services provided on mobile networks, except voice calls.”

Police in the Indian state of Punjab hunting the leader of a Sikh separatist group have imposed a state-wide shut down of mobile internet and SMS services since Saturday, in order to pursue a single man.

The order, which impacted Punjab's 27 million residents, was issued after 30-year old Amritpal Singh of protest movement Waris Punjab De evaded arrest for allegedly disrupting communal harmony. Over 100 of his followers have been arrested.

"Punjab Police India continued its crackdown on Waris Punjab De elements wanted on criminal charges, and also made preventive arrests of persons attempting to disturb peace and law & order in the state. Amritpal Singh remains a fugitive and efforts are being made to arrest him," said the Government of Punjab posted to Facebook on Monday – presumably for the benefit of those viewing Facebook over Wi-Fi or landline connections.

Punjab’s government lifted the mobile internet shutdown imposed in the State on Tuesday afternoon, even as police continue to pursue pro-Khalistani preacher Amritpal Singh, who has so far evaded arrest. Telecom operators reinstated internet connectivity to their subscribers in the State over an hour after the internet suspension order extending restrictions till Tuesday noon had elapsed. This was India’s 700th recorded internet shutdown, according to the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC)’s Internet Shutdowns Tracker.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 21 March, agreed to list a petition challenging internet shutdowns across the country.

"These particular states, the states that we have impleaded – West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh – they have a recurrent issue of imposing internet shut downs when it comes to cheating in exams. The point of us coming to the Supreme Court is so that pan India directions can be issued. Counter affidavit was also filed by the Union," the counsel representing the petitioner Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC) said.

The counsel further argued that internet shutdowns are a pan-India concern. It was also pointed out to a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, and JB Pardiwala that the reason why this petition was different from previous ones was because this was concerned with the issue from across the country.

Tens of millions of people in India’s Punjab state remain without mobile internet on Monday, as the provincial government says a shutdown will last into a fourth day.

On Saturday, the state government ordered a suspension of SMS and internet services on mobile devices as police searched for the leader of a Sikh separatist movement. Some 27 million people in the northern state are affected by the blackout, which has not impacted non-mobile internet service.

On Monday, Punjab government officials announced the blackout would continue until at least midday Tuesday.

Digital rights organizations decried the government’s tactics, pointing to the frequency with which the Indian government has switched off internet access in the name of security.

The Supreme Court agreed to list a petition filed by Software Freedom Law Centre, India (SFLC) challenging Internet Shutdowns in various states.

 

Authorities have shut down mobile internet and SMS services in Punjab as the hunt for Amritpal Singh — a radical preacher with the Khalistani separatist group Waris Punjab De — is still on.
 

The Indian state of Punjab – comprising nearly 27 million people – has cut off mobile internet and text messaging services for a second day on Sunday as authorities prepared for possible turmoil and worked to apprehend a Sikh separatist.

The statewide ban — which crippled most smartphone services except for voice calls and some SMS text messages — marked one of the broadest shutdowns in recent years in India, a country that has increasingly deployed the law enforcement tactic, which digital rights activists call draconian and ineffective, reports The Washington Post.

The Punjab government, led by the opposition Aam Admi Party, initially announced a 24-hour ban starting midday Saturday as its security forces launched a sprawling operation to arrest the fugitive Amritpal Singh, then extended the ban Sunday for another 24 hours.

More than 27 million residents of the north Indian state of Punjab faced a third straight day without access to mobile internet or text messaging on Monday, after a state government order blocked the services as police search for a controversial separatist preacher.

It was on a Saturday afternoon, in the middle of the school year, when students at a government college in Meghalaya found that their webpages stopped loading. Assignments were half-done, research, unfinished, and deadlines, fast-approaching. “Over 50 of us were forced to connect to a single Wi-Fi router to try and complete our work,” says Abha Anindita, now a journalist. 

NEW DELHI — Indian authorities severed mobile internet access and text messaging for a second day Sunday across Punjab, a state of about 27 million people, as officials sought to capture a Sikh separatist and braced for potential unrest.

The statewide ban — which crippled most smartphone services except for voice calls and some SMS text messages — marked one of the broadest shutdowns in recent years in India, a country that has increasingly deployed the law enforcement tactic, which digital rights activists call draconian and ineffective.

The Punjab government, led by the opposition Aam Admi Party, initially announced a 24-hour ban starting midday Saturday as its security forces launched a sprawling operation to arrest the fugitive Amritpal Singh, then extended the ban Sunday for another 24 hours.

Restricting free speech in certain situations is a constitutionally permissible form of regulation, the Central government told the Supreme Court while defending internet shutdowns [Software Freedom Law Centre India vs Arunachal Pradesh and ors].

NEW DELHI – Indian authorities severed mobile internet access and text messaging for a second day Sunday across Punjab, a state of about 27 million people, as officials carried out a dramatic manhunt to capture a Sikh separatist and braced for potential unrest.

The statewide ban – which crippled most smartphones services except for voice calls and some SMS text messages – marked one of the broadest shutdowns in recent years in India, a country that has increasingly deployed the law enforcement tactic that digital rights activists call draconian and ineffective.

The Punjab government initially announced a 24-hour ban starting midday Saturday as its security forces launched a sprawling operation to arrest the fugitive Amritpal Singh, then extended the ban Sunday for another 24 hours.

According to Internet Shutdowns, a tracker by SFLC.in, India saw 83 shutdowns in 2020, and in just a little over a month in 2021, there have been seven shutdowns so far. India shut off the internet 83 times in 2020, a year in which the country was in the middle of a pandemic, when internet access was all the more significant. According to reports on  yet-to-be published data by Access Now and the KeepItOn coalition, India ranked 1 in the world in terms of Internet shutdowns.

A joint statement by the Internet Freedom Foundation, Free Software Movement of India and the Software Freedom Law Center (which runs Internet Shutdowns) made after the Internet shutdown during the farmers’ protest, noted the fear that Internet shutdowns have become “the government's routine response to protests”. 

Stating that the Internet shutdown orders were “impermissibly vague”, the statement added that Internet shutdowns may be counterproductive. Further, “...Empirical studies suggest that internet shutdowns incentivize disorganized violence by cutting off channels for communication and coordination which are necessary for planned peaceful protests. There is already substantial police and paramilitary presence at the protest sites to identify and stop individuals who may be engaging in illegal activities, and a blanket Internet shutdown which deprives lakhs of people of internet access is wholly unnecessary,” 

“The harm caused by these internet shutdowns outweigh any speculative benefit,” the statement added, noting that it inconveniences those who live around the protest sites.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology discussed the impact of Internet shutdowns, Chairperson Shashi Tharoor tweeted. As per the schedule, the Committee heard representations from the Union Home Ministry, and state governments of Delhi and Bihar. At least ten members attended the meeting. The news piece refers to the SFLC's Internet Shutdown tracker to describe the number of Internet shutdowns in Bihar since 2016.

On Sunday, India restored 4G internet services in two districts of Kashmir, Reuters reported, in a region which has been the site of the longest internet shutdown ever in any democracy. Authorities shut down the internet in Jammu and Kashmir beginning in August 2019 when the Narendra Modi administration stripped the region of its previous autonomy and then began a long and harsh crackdown on residents. Chinese state propaganda outlets have even been quick to jump on these events as an absurd justification for cyber sovereignty measures — aka using them as a bad excuse for internet repression within China. As Sundar Krishnan, executive director of internet advocacy group SFLC.in, told The Guardian back in January, “According to law, an internet shutdown can only be imposed is if there’s a public safety precaution or a public emergency, but unfortunately these two words are not defined in any legislation of India.” Hence it is unclear why still in August 2020, free and open internet connectivity is not fully restored for many in the region, and restrictions on the web linger.

Spring arrived, as always in the Kashmir Valley, with melting snow and blossoming chinar trees. This year, though, brought something new. On March 18, in Srinagar, the largest city in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, a man tested positive for COVID-19—the first in the valley. The mayor asked everyone to stay home, but the message didn’t travel widely. Communication across Kashmir was limited, mobile-phone services were often disrupted, and internet speeds were stuck at a plodding 2G. So although some Kashmiris followed the order to shelter in place, many had no idea they were at risk. “We knew nothing about the virus,” says Omar Salim Akhtar, a urologist at the Government Medical College in Srinagar. “Even health workers were helpless. We had to ask people traveling outside Kashmir to download the medical guidelines and bring back printouts.”

The Calcutta High Court is scheduled to convene a special hearing on Saturday, May 16 to hear a challenge to the orders of the authorities to snap internet services on May 12 in Hooghly following communal violence in the area. (SFLC.in vs West Bengal)

The article talks about the organic increase in the number of Internet shutdowns between the time period of 2017 and 2019. The internet services have been ordered to be shut for as much as 314 times in the span of three years and 95 of such instances have lasted around 95 days. The article relies on the data compiled by the SFLC.

Kashmir is not alone. The latest instance of Internet shutdown was in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur after the arrest of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Ravan. Yogi Adityanath's government ordered a ban on mobile internet service there under Section 144 of the Criminial Procedure Code, 1973, otherwise known as an unlawful assembly. Before this, there were shutdowns in Mandsaur and Nashik where farmers have been protesting against the government since 1 June, 2020

Across India, there have been four internet shutdowns in 2020 and 382 shutdowns since 2012, according to data from the Internet Shutdown Tracker maintained by the New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), which works to protect digital safety. The Internet shutdown in Kashmir, imposed on August 4, 2019, has been in place for over six months, making it the longest in any democratic country. A few dozen whitelisted sites were initially allowed on 2G speeds from January 25, 2020, but experts have called this an eyewash as most websites either did not open or the speeds were so slow that it is impossible to get any work done.

The announcement applied only to 301 websites, and many Kashmiris said they were still in an information black hole.

The government of India cannot push for Digital India on one hand and use the kill switch to turn it off with the other.

While the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) report says that there were 451 Mn monthly active internet users at the end of the financial year 2019, a report by internet advocacy group Access Now says that India led the world in internet shutdowns with 67% of the total recorded worldwide in 2018. Another report by the Software Freedom Law Center, which tracks internet suspensions, says that since January 2012, there have been 373 halts in India’s internet service.

Anti-Citizenship Act protests: Mobile internet services have been shutdown in some parts of the Delhi by Airtel and Vodafone as Section 144 of CRPC was imposed.

More than 60 million people across India have been cut off from the Internet, some for over 100 days, a moved hailed only by China.

Millions of mobile phones in New Delhi, India’s capital, went dead on Thursday after the city’s police department ordered the country’s largest carriers to stop voice, text, and internet services in the wake of massive protests against a controversial new citizenship law that discriminates against Muslims.

India, the world’s largest democracy, shuts down the internet far more than any other country. This week, 60 million people — roughly the size of France — have no service.

Pharmacists can’t restock medicines; workers aren’t being paid. But the government still loves to block the internet for “peace and tranquillity.”

Africa and Asia are the two continents most affected by internet shutdowns, and India is by far the greatest perpetrator: 67% of #KeepItOn’s documented shutdowns in 2018 have taken place in India, with 134 incidents.