Mobile internet services in Jabalpur city in Madhya Pradesh have been suspended as a “precautionary measure” to curb protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, Jabalpur deputy inspector general BS Chouhan told to MediaNama. The internet suspension order came from the district magistrate’s office, we were told. Chouhan said that mobile internet services were suspended in the city at 9 am today, and are likely to be restored at 5 pm. “Thousands of people are expected to gather in one place during the protests, and the internet was suspended as a precautionary measure because of that," Chouhan said. MediaNama has not seen a copy of the internet shutdown order yet. Bharti Airtel confirmed the shutdown earlier today on Twitter. We have reached out to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio for more clarification. This is the second time that internet services were suspended in the city in light of anti-CAA protests, with the previous shutdown being in December 2019. https://twitter.com/Airtel_Presence/status/1223100898185887746 The Supreme Court had earlier said that access to the internet is part of free speech: This internet shutdown order comes weeks after the Supreme Court had declared that the right to internet is also part of freedom of speech and expression, and an indefinite ban on the internet is an abuse of power. Despite that, 2G mobile internet for accessing 301 whitelisted is currently allowed in parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Of those already few whitelisted websites, even fewer websites are actually accessible, analysis found. Read more: Indian govt uses internet…
