Manipur HC asks state govt to find ways to restore mobile internet services

way2barak, Aug 12 : Responding to the appeal filed by various quarters, the Manipur High Court has asked the state government to find ways and means to provide mobile internet services to the people of the state, court officials said on Saturday.

The mobile internet services were banned across Manipur since the ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3.

A High Court official said that a division bench comprising Justice Ahanthem Bimol Singh and Justice A Guneshwar Sharma on Friday directed, “…state authorities, specially, the home department should consider for devising mechanism/methods for providing internet services through mobile phones by whitelisting the mobile numbers on case to case basis and in a phase-wise manner.”

“Accordingly, the state authorities are directed to consider this aspect and to submit a report on the next date. The court would again hear the matter on August 31,” the HC order said.

During the hearing, the state’s counsel told the court that … “in terms of the earlier directions given by this Court, the authorities have conducted physical trial with regard to the opening internet ban through mobile phones by whitelisting certain mobile numbers and as per the report submitted by the service providers, there is no data leakage to any other numbers which are not whitelisted.”

The order said that state’s counsel M. Rarry submitted that the state authorities may be given two weeks’ time to devise certain measures/mechanism for whitelisting mobile phones and the liberty to consider whitelisting of mobile numbers on case to case basis and in a phase-wise manner.

Meanwhile, responding to the demands from all sections of people, the Manipur government, after 84 days, on July 25, partially lifted the ban on the internet in the ethnic violence-hit state.

Manipur Home Commissioner T. Ranjit Singh, in an order, had said that the state government has made considered decision to lift suspension in case of broadband service (Internet Lease Line and Fibre to the Home) conditionally in a liberalised manner subject to fulfilment of 10 conditions, including that connection has to be only through static IP.