Primacy of right to life, says India at G20 talks on internet shutdowns

The frequent internet shutdown in India came up for discussion during the two-day G20 meet on cybersecurity where one of the panellists Nneena Nwakanma said that India should “stop shutting down the internet anytime.” She along with others were part of a panel discussion on “Internet Governance-National Responsibility and Global Commons.” Nwakanma is associated with Geneva-based International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative and was responding to frequent net bans imposed by federal governments.

Nwakanma, on the first day of the conference remarked, “I haven’t seen any case of internet shutdowns being taken to Parliament, nor is there any empirical evidence of economic returns (by imposing bans). Still, if law enforcement agencies need to impose a ban, they must follow the due process of law and elected representatives should be able to explain to their voters the reasons for such bans. Internet ban is one of the greatest dangers in building trust among the public,” when countries are trying to implement internet governance.

In India, the internet ban was most recently imposed in Manipur where it has been suspended for the past 71 days till July 20, due to ethnic violence that started on May 3 this year. The Supreme Court is likely to take up Manipur government’s plea on Monday against the Manipur High Court order for limited restoration of the internet.


Earlier, the internet was suspended in the border state of Punjab in March this year during the crackdown on pro-Khalistan leader and Waris De Punjab chief Patrol Amritpal Singh. Before that, the longest internet ban was witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. According to global digital rights group Access Now, India imposed the highest number of shutdowns - at least 33 till May 2023, among 80 shutdowns across 21 countries during the same period.

Besides India, others countries that imposed bans were China, Brazil, Cuba, Ethiopia, Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Russia,Turkey, as per Access Now report.

Responding to a query on the frequent internet bans in India, former Intelligence Bureau chief and member of National Human Rights Commission, Rajiv Jain clarified that Right to Freedom of Expression, Right to Privacy and Right to Life are in many “situations in conflict with each other.” “When there is a threat to life of a large group of people or in a large geographical area, primacy has to be given to Right to Life as the state acts as repository of all the rights and takes a call on temporary suspension of Internet,” he said.

A 1980 batch IPS officer, Jain was speaking during the second day of the conference and was among the panellists on “Criminal Use of ICT: Evolving a framework for International Cooperation.”