Agencies
New Delhi, May 2: A bench of Justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai would consider the batch of petitions filed by 'Foundation for Media Professionals' and others, on May 4. The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider on Monday a plea for providing 4G Internet speed in Jammu and Kashmir. The Union Territory administration has strongly opposed the plea saying the right to internet was not a fundamental right and the freedoms of speech and carry on business and trade can be curtailed to protect sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana, R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai would consider the batch of petitions filed by 'Foundation for Media Professionals' and others, on May 4.
The petitioners contended the people over there were unable to access the latest information, guidelines, advisories, daily updates and restrictions on COVID-19 pandemic. They also claimed slow internet speed affected the studies of the students and works by medical professionals.
Responding to the petitions, the UT administration maintained that the current discourse of social media indicated that Pakistan was aiming to incite violence amongst college and University students. It also contended that the increase in internet speed will lead to swift uploading and posting of provocative videos and other heavy data files.
It said if the internet speed was not limited to 2G, the high speed would enable faster spread of fake news and uploading of such videos by terror groups for incitement and planning of attacks.
"Misuse of data services, applications like WhatsApp and Facebook for mobilising crowds by anti-national elements has the potential to cause large scale violence, disturb public order and indeed threaten the security of the country," it maintained.
Since August 5, 2019 to April 25, 2020, 108 terrorist related incidents took place in the UT of JK. 99 Incidents were reported from Kashmir province and nine from Jammu province. 30 civilians lost their lives, while 114 civilians were injured in terrorist-related incidents. 20 Security forces personnel were martyred and 54 personnel were injured. 76 terrorists were killed apart from arrest of 132 terrorists/ suspects, it pointed out.
The J&K administration also maintained that it was making available health and education services through additional means of communications like satellite and cable TVs, radio and video recorded programmes.
"The present affidavit needs to be appreciated in light of the fact that since 1990, 41,866 persons have lost their lives in 71,038 incidents throughout the erstwhile state of J&K. This includes 14,038 civilians, 5292 personnel of security forces and 22536 terrorists. These figures depict the nuances and emphasis on the unavoidable requirement of reasonable restrictions given the very peculiar geo-political position of Jammu and Kashmir and its geographical proximity with Pakistan," it said.
The administration, for its part, said, "Restoration of 4G mobile data services will substantially increase the use of social media and other online platforms in uploading/downloading of videos and other propaganda material and their fast circulation, with resultant deterioration in law and order situation in Kashmir Valley. For any upload/ download of a typically heavy data file, the present speed restrictions increase the time taken or lead to failure, frustrating the evil designs of terrorists." |
