National desk, 9 July: Manipur High Court on Saturday directed the state government to partially lift the ban on internet services amid the ongoing violence in the state.
The top court further ordered the state administration to conduct practical tests and determine whether permitting internet access on mobile devices would be possible while maintaining the protection of “life and property of citizens.”
The court requested a thorough report from the Manipur government and will hear the case on July 25.
After hearing numerous PILs regarding the internet restriction, a bench of Justices A Bimol and A Guneshwor Sharma made the following statement “In the case of Fibre To The Home (FTTH) connections, internet service can be provided by the home department on a case to case basis.”
The bench further stated that the Manipur government was required to ensure that the committee’s suggested safeguards were followed while it was making its decision.
The high court was previously informed by a 12-member expert committee that internet access for the people of Manipur could be provided through broadband connections, either through Internet Leased Line (ILL) or FTTH, as long as “static IP, banning of Wifi/Hotspots from any of the routers or systems, blocking of social media websites and VPNs at the local level, removal of VPN software from the system, prohibiting the installation of new software by any user, and enforcing physical monitoring by the concerned authority/officials.”
Since Friday night, two vehicles have been burned out while two people have been injured. In the Meitei-majority Bishnupur district, a farmer was shot as he was out cultivating paddy on Saturday.
In a separate incident, a mortar thrown by the criminals from the foothill area damaged a teenager’s house in Kwakta in the same district, injuring him with splinters. On Friday night in Imphal, two vehicles were set on fire by a mob near the Kangla Fort.