MP Pradyut Bordoloi expresses concern over suspension of mobile internet in Assam, writes to CM

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• Aug 21, 2022 | Kabir Chakraborty

On August 21 and August 28, in the districts where the Assam Direct Recruitment Examinations 2022 for the filling of vacancies in Class III and Class IV positions will be held, mobile Internet connections will be suspended for four hours.

Digital Desk: Pradyut
Bordoloi, a Congress member, raised grave worry about the Assam government's
decision to halt mobile internet access in order to hold recruitment exams.

In a letter to Chief
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Nagaon MP Bordoloi pleaded with the Assam
administration to rethink its decision to stop internet access in the interest
of the general public.

On
August 21 and August 28, in the districts where the Assam Direct Recruitment
Examinations 2022 for the filling of vacancies in Class III and Class IV
positions will be held, mobile Internet connections will be suspended for four
hours.

The tests are being
given to fill almost 30,000 Grade III and Grade IV positions.

In Assam, 25 of the 35
districts are holding the exams.

In
light of the Telegraph Act of 1885's Section 5(2) and the Temporary Suspension
of Telecom Services Rules of 2017, which give Union and State governments the
authority to halt internet service "on the occurrence of a public
emergency or in the interest of public safety," as further defined by the
Supreme Court in Anuradha Bharin v. Union of India, this decision by the
government of Assam is alarming.

Additionally, as stated
in The Hon'ble High Coon of West Bengal at Calcutta in Ashlesh Birader v. Slate
of West Bengal in March 2022, "internet suspension for conducting
examinations has already been held to be disproportionate and unjustified on
grounds of public emergency or public safety," Bordoloi noted in the
letter.

He
asserted that it is critical to reiterate the disproportionate nature of this
measure and its effects on the right to free speech, the right to a living, and
access to information, education, and health in light of the increasing
frequency and overreliance on the internet shutdowns in India, which currently
experiences the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world.

The Lok Sabha member
from Assam said, "I encourage the Government of Assam to review this
decision, if any, in the public interest and ensure compliance with the
relevant rules and judicial orders about safeguards to be followed while
exercising the power to suspend the Internet.

Borodoloi further
encouraged the Assam government to make official announcements about such
decisions available to the public so that people would not have to rely
entirely on speculative media reports and could assess the accuracy of those
claims.