Following the Patel protests, Gujarat has completely lifted the week long ban on mobile Internet with Surat and Ahmedabad being the last cities to resume services, reports the Indian Express. The Times of India had earlier reported that Internet services had resumed in Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Botad and Morbi districts on Monday. However, the Indian Express adds that the Ahmedabad police had written to the city's commissioner to extend the ban by a couple of more days to prevent "provocation of a riot." The police had also lodged an FIR against unknown "anti-social elements" for sending provocative messages through social media and various mobile applications”. Implications for free speech on the Internet Though the controversial Section 66A of the IT Act was struck down by the Supreme Court, MediaNama had pointed out that it may be back in a new avatar. It's worth noting that people have been getting arrested for posting "objectionable content" on social media and have been booked under hate speech laws as evidenced by two incidents in July. According to the Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code: Whoever (a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or (b) commits any act which is prejudicial to…
