The Jharkhand High Court has ordered the Hemant Soren government to immediately restore internet services in the state. Internet services were suspended for a few hours during the competitive examination on 21 and 22 September in the state.
The High Court has ordered the Jharkhand government to immediately restore internet services in the state. The High Court bench of Justice Anand Sen and Justice Anubha Rawat Chaudhary took cognizance of the shutdown of internet services across Jharkhand on Sunday and heard the case. The court directed the Hemant Soren government to immediately restore internet services. Along with this, the court directed the state government to submit the SOP prepared for shutting down the internet.
The court has given the state government a time limit of six weeks to submit the SOP. State Bar Council President Rajendra Krishna presented arguments in this case. Additional Advocate General Sachin Kumar and advocate Piyush Chitresh presented their arguments on behalf of the state government. The court issued the above order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on Sunday. The court also raised questions on the suspension of the entire internet service.
The court said in its order that the argument of shutting down internet services in the state only in the name of public interest and fair examination without any solid basis does not seem to be sufficient. Such action is a violation of the fundamental rights enshrined under Article 19 of the Constitution. Let us tell you that the Jharkhand government had announced that during the Jharkhand General Graduate Level Combined Competitive Examination (JGGLCCE), internet services will be suspended for more than five hours in the entire state for two days from September 21.
In a statement issued by the Hemant Soren government, it was said that this step has been taken to conduct the examinations in a free, fair and transparent manner. In previous cases, it has been seen that some unscrupulous people have indulged in unfair practices using various mobile applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, X, Telegram and YouTube. In such a situation, this step was necessary to remove any possible flaws in the examination process.
