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Foundation for Media Professionals v. Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2020 INSC 393Decided 11 May 2020
Writ Petition (Civil) Diary No. 10817 of 2020
Justice N.V. Ramana · Justice R. Subhash Reddy · Justice B.R. Gavai

Background

During the COVID-19 lockdown, three sets of petitioners (a media professionals' foundation, an individual, and a private schools' association) challenged the Jammu and Kashmir administration's restriction of mobile internet to 2G speed, arguing it crippled access to healthcare information, online education and business during the pandemic. The administration defended the restriction citing a sharp rise in terrorist incidents and cross-border threats in the Union Territory since August 2019.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that fundamental rights must be balanced against genuine national security concerns, and found the government's security justification credible given documented terrorist incidents. However, it noted the restrictions were imposed uniformly across the entire Union Territory without reasons showing every district needed them, which sits uneasily with the proportionality principle laid down in the Court's earlier Anuradha Bhasin judgment. Rather than itself ordering 4G restoration, the Court directed the Union Home Secretary, the Communications Secretary and the J&K Chief Secretary to constitute a Special Committee to re-examine the necessity and territorial scope of the restrictions, including the feasibility of faster internet on a trial basis in specific areas. The petitions were disposed of in these terms.

Lesson Learnt

Courts can require the executive to periodically justify and narrow emergency restrictions on fundamental rights (like internet access) rather than either rubber-stamping them indefinitely or substituting their own technical judgment for the government's security assessment.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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