No internet ban in Assam as of now, state govt likely to move SC

Guwahati: Amid social media reports that Internet services are going to be disrupted again in the state, the Gauhati High Court has rejected the Assam government’s review petition (bearing case no: 198/2019) against resumption of mobile internet services in the state on Friday.

Earlier on Thursday, the Gauhati High Court had directed the chief secretary of Assam to restore mobile internet services state-wide by 5 pm on that day.

The bench of Gauhati High Court, headed by Justice Manojit Bhuyan, asked the state government, headed by senior government counsel D Saikia in court, about the reasons behind filing of the writ petition against the HC order on Thursday.

In response to this, the state government counsel cited various instances and issues relating to the law-and-order problem of the state due to the on-going stir against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The government counsel gave examples of various developments in Tinsukia district of the state during the last couple of days, which the court rejected terming them as old incidents.

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The court categorically asked the state counsel to submit in detail about what happened in the state which have affected the situation after resumption of the internet services on Friday.

Following this, the state government counsel submitted two closed envelopes to the court. Accordingly, the court opened one of the envelopes and after some discussion, the court rejected the Assam government’s review petition against resumption of mobile internet services in the state.

However, sources informed EastMojo that the state government is likely to approach the Supreme Court in this regard soon.

Mobile internet services resumed in Assam at 9 am on Friday, 10 days after they were snapped in the wake of violent protests over the new citizenship law.