Internet suspension followingprotests is not new to India. Internet services have been suspended inRajasthan for the past six days in view of communal tension following themurder of a tailor in Udaipur. However, Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed thehighest number of internet clampdowns ever.
The viral video of the brutal,cold-blooded beheading of tailor Kanhaiya Lal for supporting Nupur Sharma¡¯sstatements on Prophet Mohammed on social media led to the internet suspensionin Rajasthan. The incident led to protests in public places burning publicproperty as well.
The authorities have imposedsection 144 in all districts of Rajasthan for a month and internet was shutdownimmediately and it expanded to the entire state in less than 24 hours. However,now the shutdown remains only in Jaipur and Udaipur.
But this is not the first suchinstance of internet shutdown. A review of various reports on internet shutdownsin India shows that Rajasthan is now a hotbed of internet shutdowns after Jammuand Kashmir, says research conducted by the India Today.
Rajasthan has seen complete orpartial internet clampdown, a total of 88 times recently. Overall, the capitalcity of Jaipur saw the internet being shut 18 times, followed by Sikar districtwhich saw online services shut 17 times and Udaipur 14 times. This is thesecond-highest reported clampdown on the internet in a state after Jammu andKashmir that has suffered 411 shutdowns overall since 2012, according toInternetshutdowns.in, a website operated by the Software Freedom Law Centre,India -- the first Indian legal services organisation that works exclusively ontechnology, law, and policy.
Advocate Krishnesh Bhapat, InternetFreedom Foundation (IFF), an advocacy group that fights legal cases onarbitrary internet bans, said, ¡°In the past 3 years, Rajasthan has seen themost internet shutdowns than any other state in India, even more than Jammu andKashmir. The problem with the state police is that a lot of times the stateadministration does not upload the orders to impose a shutdown of the internetin the public domain. They cite Section 81A of the RTI act saying that it mayaffect the sovereignty of the country.¡±
In its research conducted by IndiaToday looked at several internet suspension orders issued in Rajasthan duringApril-June 2022 and found many reported instances of such clampdowns.
On June 10, 2022, Internet servicessuspended in Amer district of Rajasthan due to threat to MLAs, 13 May 2022 -Another internet shutdown in Rajasthan over tension after the attack on a VHPleader, 11 May 2022 - Internet services shut in Bhilwara amid tensions over thealleged killing of a 22-year-old boy, after which several Hindu organisationsgathered and protested, May 5, 2022 - Internet services were suspended inBhilwara after miscreants attacked two people, May 3, 2022 - Fresh communalclashes in Jodhpur on Eid, curfew imposed, internet suspended, April 4, 2022 -Internet shutdown in Karauli after communal clashes, March 16, 2022 - Theinternet was suspended for 12 hours in Jhunjhunu to let a religious processionpass peacefully without any communal tension.
Another report written by Dr KrisRujigrok, a political scientist working at the University of Amsterdam,contends that Rajasthan is ahead in the number of internet shutdowns imposedafter J&K territory at 68 times till 2021, which is elucidated in hisreport titled ¡®Understanding India¡¯s Troubling Rise in Internet Shutdowns¡¯(published June 2021).
Uttar Pradesh ranks third with 30internet clampdowns, followed by West Bengal at 16 times and Bihar andMaharashtra tied up at 12 times, as per Internetshutdowns.in, a tracker forinternet clampdowns.
¡°Other states where Internetshutdowns are fairly common are Rajasthan (68), Uttar Pradesh (29), Haryana(13), Maharashtra (13), West Bengal (12). By contrast, there have been norecorded shutdowns in the states of Kerala, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram. There is variation across regions aswell. India¡¯s southern states seldom face internet shut downs while they arecommonplace in the northern ones,¡± reported Dr Kris Rujigrok.
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