The Latest Form of Punishment in Manipur: Deprivation of Internet Rights

Martin Luther King Jr once said “True peace is not merely the absence of Tension, it is the presence of Justice”. Kukis’ right to internet connectivity is the latest victim to the never ending oppressive and discriminatory practice of the Meitei Government in Manipur against the Kukis. Thus, when Living with Injustice is the norm they set for the Kukis, is there any hope for Peace under their governance and power?

The importance of internet is so immense that the Government of India launched the Digital India scheme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Ranging from households to education, health care to financial services. Internet not only makes one’s life easier but empowers, enriches, informs and makes society more equitable. The importance of internet needs no reminder nor listing to stress how the ban in internet connection disrupts and deprives, as the district administration or state government who bans the Internet themselves know how handicapped and cripple one becomes without internet service. Thus, depriving one of his Rights to internet connection unjustly is a violation of his basic Human Right, the Fundamental Rights of Freedom of Speech and Expression and his Right to be Informed.

The Supreme Court bench in a significant ruling in 2020, said that access to internet is a Fundamental Right under Article 19 of the Constitution which deals with Freedom of Speech and Expression, subject to reasonable restrictions. It further said magistrates, while passing prohibitory orders, should apply their minds and follow the doctrine of proportionality. Proportionality means that the administrative action should not be more drastic than it ought to be for obtaining the desired result. This implies that canon should not be used to shoot a sparrow. Thus this doctrine tries to balance means with ends.

As per the amended India Telegraph Act of 1885, Internet shutdowns could only be ordered by a state government’s home secretary when deemed “necessary” or “unavoidable” in public emergencies or in the interest of public safety. In a landmark verdict in “Anuradha Bhasin versus the Union of India” case, the court prohibited the government from suspending the internet indefinitely and limited its shutdown to 15 days or less.

With no events or threats that amount to a public emergency and with normalcy back in the district after the February 15 public outrage against the discriminatory and oppressive treatment of the Kukis, what compels the government of Manipur to extend the ban on the internet till 2nd March 2024? What is so deemed necessary that necessarily calls for the extension, punishing the Kukis for daring to question and protest against the oppressive and discriminatory practices of the Manipur government and for not being a silent victim to their oppression? If so, where is Democracy? Should a citizen in a democratic country lead the life of those under an autocratic rule or dictatorship? With this extension, the total number of days will tally to 16 against the permissible time limit set by the Supreme Court. Had there been a law and order threat, it would be understandable, but with normalcy returning, the extension is rather seen as a kind of punishment and oppression. Thus the question is, Is the Extension not violative of the Doctrine of Proportionality the concerned authority has to apply before depriving citizens of their Fundamental Rights to Internet services? If one’s authority and one’s own rules are the guiding principles of the government, then does the government concerned have the moral and legal right to claim itself as a democratic government?

The 15 February public outrage happened due to differential yardstick amongst the public employees and continual discriminatory practices and oppression of the government against the Kuki. However, the cries and anger of the Kuki populace meant so little to the district authority and the state government that they brazenly resorted to another discriminatory practice; the ban in internet and WiFi connection. While looting of Government armoury by the Meiteis, obstruction of state agencies from carrying out their official duty, public outrage and attack to the security forces to name a few, does not alarm the Manipur government or Home Secretary to impose an internet ban, the people in the same political territory can be deprived of their Fundamental Right to internet connection. Where is the Equality of all that the constitution promised to its citizens? Is this the Justice the constitution promised to deliver? Are our liberty restricted within the walls of the whims and fancies of the state government?

The Government of Manipur’s attempts to normalize their oppression of the Kukis in all sphere is a serious issue which the Central power and the Supreme Court should take a suo moto cognizance of, with repeated offences committed to brazenly and arbitrarily violate the Kukis of their Fundamental Rights and other Constitutional Rights by the State Government, turning a blind eye to their crimes would question their credibility, efficiency and commitment to protecting the ideals and the idea of India it is responsible to protect and deliver. They cannot let a constitutional institution and its agencies as means to discriminate and oppress lakhs of Indians who belong to a particular community against whom an ethnic cleansing pogrom is executed. They cannot let the constitution and its provisions be a Paper Tiger that can be stepped upon by anyone and everyone.

Oppression and discrimination against the Kuki community to soothe the egos and hatred of the Meiteis will not bring peace, it rather explicitly mirrors the standing of Manipur government in the pogrom. As Meitei’s interest is what it intend to serve and fulfil, the Kukis deserve a Separate Government under whom their rights as an Indian are protected and fulfilled. We are Indians thus we deserve Equality, Democracy and Justice, not Oppression, Discrimination and Injustice.