New Delhi, June 9: A contempt petition filed by the Foundation for Media Professionals (FMP), before the Apex Court stated that there is a willful failure of the government officials in complying with the directions of the Supreme Court despite 29 days having elapsed since the judgement was delivered on 11 May 2020.
The Apex Court has not fixed any date for hearing the contempt petition filed by the FMP.
The contempt petition was filed before the Apex Court, with assistance of lawyers, Vrinda Bhandari, Apar Gupta and Devdutta Mukhopadhaya in the Internet Freedom Foundation case.
The Supreme Court had directed that a “Special Committee” be constituted to “immediately” determine the necessity of continued restriction of mobile internet speeds in Jammu & Kashmir to 2G only, the FMP in its contempt petition stated.
An Intervention Application (IA) was also filed by the FMP for directions along with the contempt petition to bring on record subsequent orders issued by the UT of Jammu & Kashmir under the Temporary Telecom Suspension Rules 2017 after the Supreme Court delivered its judgement on 11 May 2020.
The Application notes that even after the Supreme Court’s clarification that restrictions on internet access must be temporally and territorially limited to what is absolutely necessary, the UT of Jammu & Kashmir has directed internet service providers to slow down mobile internet speed to 2G in all districts of Jammu & Kashmir without providing any specific reasons for different districts.
The Application also challenges the government’s assertion that internet speed restrictions have not hindered COVID-19 control measures and access to online resources by relying on personal testimonies and technical analysis previously placed on record by the petitioner about the practical impact of denial of 4G internet services.
The Application further states that restoration of 4G internet services is a broad based demand which has been endorsed by Ram Madhav, National General Secretary of BJP as well, and it quotes a statement by Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs about Jammu & Kashmir experiencing lowest incidents of militancy since 1990 after abrogation of Article 370.
