Virtual Curfew in India: A Study of Socio-Economic Ramifications of Internet Shutdowns

Article 19 of the Indian Constitution deals with the basic fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression, incorporated by the Constituent Assembly members after extensive debates and discussion in the Constituent Assembly. However, since the inception of information and communication technology via the medium of the internet, this basic fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 has changed drastically as the internet platform has taken over the arena of information by storm as the internet do not have any geographical limitations. Though, this right to freely access the internet has been repeatedly restricted during the pandemic too under the cloud of censorship and internet shutdown on the nebulous ground of public order and law issues; this, in turn, affects several individual rights at large. Apart from this, the internet shutdown also curtails an individual’s virtual social autonomy as one is unable to assert his/her financial and social concerns. It has also been reported by UNESCO that India has witnessed the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world. Based on doctrinal research and an analytical approach, this research work attempts to analyze how the policy of censorship and internet shutdown severely curtails the social, political, and financial rights of an individual. Some of the primary data used in this work are constitutional assembly debates, information technology acts, official orders, rules, newspapers reports, internet shutdown tracker network reports, etc.