Service providers insist on undertakings from subscribers for restoring Net

Ishfaq Tantry

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Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 22

Even as the Supreme Court recently declared access to Internet a constitutionally protected right and asked the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir to review all curbs imposed after August 5, majority of the service providers in the Valley are still insisting on undertakings from subscribers before restoring the services.

Though earlier the undertakings mentioning numerous conditions for the restoration of the Internet services were submitted to the police, but this time the undertakings are being demanded by the Internet service providers.

“Yes we are demanding the undertakings from the subscribers for the restoration of the Net services. This is for our own safety and to ensure that there is no misuse of Internet,” an official of a leading Internet service provider in the Srinagar city told The Tribune.

He disclosed that certain social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc, had been blocked by them for their subscribers on the directions of the authorities to prevent misuse of the Internet.

The official said so far they had restored around 90 Internet connections, including those of hotels, travel agencies and certain departments coming under essential services.

As per one such undertaking, with one such draft also accessed by The Tribune, it is being demanded that the “company will provide complete access to all its content and infrastructure as and when required by the security agencies”.

While asking the authorities to review all the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir post August 5, 2019, the Supreme Court in its ruling on January this year in a landmark decision had declared access to Internet a constitutionally protected right.

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SC ruling on Internet access

“The freedom of speech and expression through the medium of Internet is an integral part of Article 19 (1) (a) and accordingly any restriction on the same must be in accordance with Article 19 (2) of the Constitution,” a three-Judge Bench of the Supreme Court declared on January 10 while deciding a batch of petitions challenging the restrictions imposed on Internet in J&K.