The Manipur High Court has directed the state government, more particularly to the home department, to lift the ban on internet service through Internet Lease Line (ILL), Fibre To The Home (FTTH) and some whitelisting mobile numbers complying the safeguards given by the Expert Committee, which was formed to explore the possibilities of restoring internet access.
The HC details lifting of ban on providing internet service through ILL throughout the whole state after ensuring that all the stakeholders have complied with the safeguards given by the Expert Committee.
The HC stated in detail that in case of Fibre to The Home (FTTH), lifting of the ban on providing internet service can be carried out by the Home Department on case-to-case basis and after ensuring that all the stakeholders have duly complied with the safeguards given by the Expert Committee.
And in respect of whitelisting mobile phone numbers, the state government is directed to carry out physical trial to find out the feasibility of providing internet service to the whitelisted mobile phones without jeopardizing the security of the state and the life and property of the citizen and after such verification, a detailed report should be submitted before the court on the next date of hearing without fail.
Before the HC, after a detailed deliberations and discussions, the members of the Expert Committee and the Technical Experts of the Service Providers gave their expert opinions as well as the means and the solutions for providing limited internet service to the public by safeguarding the concerned of the government for the security of the state and protecting the life and properties of the citizen.
The expert committee suggested that internet service can be provided by all the service providers operating in the state of Manipur to a limited number of specially identified/whitelisted mobile numbers if such mobile numbers are identified and furnished by the Home Department, government of Manipur.
It has also been stated by all the officials of the service providers that providing of internet service will be exclusively limited to those specially identified or whitelisted mobile numbers and that there is absolutely no chance or possibility of any leakage. In other words, except for the person who is using the identified/whitelisted mobile number, no other person can utilize or avail the internet service provided to the said mobile number.
And for providing of internet service through broadband connections, either through Internet Lease Line (ILL) or Fibre To The Home (FTTH) is absolutely possible by ensuring dedicated Leased line or FTTH line with static IP, banning of Wifi/Hotspots from any of the routers and systems, Media Access Control (MAC) binding at the system level or router; Blocking of social media websites and VPNs at the local level; Removing of any existing VPNs software from the system and prohibiting installation of new software by any user; and Enforcing Physical Monitoring by the concerned authority/ officials.
The HC, while directing to lift the internet ban, also directed to comply with the safeguards given by the expert committee.
Before the HC, the state government submitted that a meeting chaired by the commissioner (Home), government of Manipur, to discuss on lifting internet ban held on June 12, 2023 took certain decisions to adopt the following line of actions to propose to the Higher Authority to consider lifting of ban on ILL (Internet Lease Line) with capping of maximum speed @ 10 MBPS and subject to undertaking obtained from the intending/existing subscribers for not indulging in the illegal spreading and posting of rumours, objectionable/provocative/inciting contents or comments which is likely to create mistrust/misunderstanding which may aggravate the ongoing law and order crisis in the state of Manipur and that in the event of any violation, he or she shall be liable to be punished as per provisions of relevant laws of the land in force and that the subscriber shall be fixed personally responsible for any leakage/activities done by the Secondary user of internet through Wi-Fi or hotspot, etc.
The primary subscriber shall be made mandatory to maintain log books of secondary users, including details of date, time and duration (entry/exit) of internet use.
Also, in the case of FTTH (Fibre To The Home), the permission of Home Department on cases to case basis may be made mandatory with the condition specified in the case of ILL and additionally with the condition of ensuring One to One connection and control by the ISP (Internet Service Provider).
The commissioner (Home) and all the expert members, who were present before the HC while hearing the PILs, unanimously viewed that there will be no problem or difficulty in lifting of the ban in respect of the Internet Lease Line (ILL) by ensuring and following the safeguards given by the expert members.
After hearing the submissions and after careful consideration of the opinions, suggestions and the means given by all the expert officials, the double bench of justice A Bimol and justice A Guneshwar Sharma considered the view that it will be in the interest of public to issue the directions to mitigate, at least to some extent, the hardships being faced by the public due to the complete ban imposed by the state government on providing internet service in the state and at the same time ensuring the security of the state and safety of the life and properties of the citizens.
