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India Court Finds Indefinite Restrictions in Kashmir Illegal

Supreme Court ordered the government to review internet shutdowns in Kashmir within seven days. 

India Court Finds Indefinite Restrictions in Kashmir Illegal
Concertina wire forms a barrier on a street as a member of the security forces stands guard in front of a shuttered store in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. (Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- India’s top court ruled Friday that the “limitless” internet shutdown enforced by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kashmir for the last five months was illegal.

Repeated restrictions on assembly were an “abuse of power,” the court found, and said Modi’s administration must publish its orders to enable citizens to challenge them in court and restore government websites, hospital and banking services. “An order suspending internet services indefinitely is impermissible,” the judgment reads.

In a ruling that was critical of the government but stopped short of overturning the communication and transport restrictions that have been in place since Aug. 5 when Modi scrapped nearly seven decades of autonomous status of Kashmir, the Supreme Court ordered the government to review them within seven days. There was no mention of the political leaders -- including three former chief ministers -- who’ve been detained since the shutdown began.

”On its own, this order may not lead to any substantive operational change in Kashmir -- the court seems to have given just enough relief to the government and the civil society groups,” said Harsh Pant, professor of international relations at King’s College London. “The state can always cite national security and prevailing peace in the region to continue its clampdown. But it may at least free the internet for essential services.”

The verdict will be a disappointment for Modi’s government, which is fast tracking implementation of his party’s Hindu nationalist agenda after winning a sweeping mandate for his second term last year. The surprise announcement to renounce the special status of Kashmir -- India’s only Muslim majority state -- was the first among the three significant acts affecting Muslims in the last year.

In November the Supreme Court handed a victory to Hindu groups over Muslim petitioners in a centuries old dispute over the ownership of a plot of land in northern city of Ayodhya, which was claimed to be the birth place of Hindu god Ram. A medieval era mosque that stood at the disputed site was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992.

Citizenship Law

The latest move that’s prompted weeks of protests across the country is the introduction of a religion-based test in the citizenship law that allows migrants of all faiths except Islam from neighboring countries to seek Indian citizenship. Large scale demonstrations and police crackdown on protesters has left more than a dozen people dead and the country deeply divided on religious lines.

During the hearing, the government said it had relaxed restrictions in a phased manner. Petitioners, which included journalists, politicians and students, had cited difficulties in accessing basic services such as hospitals and schools, and mass arrests, and claimed the lockdown was illegal.

On restrictions placed on press freedom, the court said “Journalists are to be accommodated in reporting and there is no justification for allowing a sword of Damocles to hang over the press indefinitely.”’

--With assistance from Archana Chaudhary.

To contact the reporter on this story: Upmanyu Trivedi in New Delhi at utrivedi2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Unni Krishnan at ukrishnan2@bloomberg.net, Ruth Pollard

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