The May 4 video from Manipur showing two Kuki-Zo women being stripped and paraded by a mob, which went viral last week, has opened a new front on the debate over the fight against Internet shutdowns. Opponents of shutdowns, such as civil rights groups, now argue that on top of having massive effects on work, education, and daily life, shutdowns can prevent information on atrocities from being discovered.
Security forces and experts have, however, arrived at a completely opposite conclusion: to them, the video, which went viral two months after it was recorded, vindicates the need for “calibrated and nuanced” shutdowns in such situations “limited in time period and space”, as their dissemination could further inflame the situation.
To rights groups like the New Delhi-based Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) and the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), which have always held that blanket communications shutdowns are a disproportionate measure, the viral video cements the case against imposing such restrictions. The video shows “how internet shutdowns, instead of curbing spread of violence, are in fact a tool that helps evade accountability for heinous human rights violations,” the IFF said in a statement.
A retired Indian Police Service officer told The Hindu that while internet shutdowns cannot be “ham-handed”, there is a special need to stop such videos and content from spreading, as it is resulting in retaliatory violence and then leading to an escalating spiral.
“The touchstone for this is the interest of the public. The public is supposed to be informed; everything should be transparent. But whether this transparency is going to further ignite the situation is the question. The video may be fake or true. Irrespective of that, if it is capable of inflammatory or incendiary potential, I think it should be taken down because it is likely to lead to greater problems and does not help the public,” the officer said.
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However, the officer acknowledged that this works only when authorities are actively trying to control the law and order situation. He said that in the interest of transparency, the information can then be released to the public in a controlled and calibrated manner “at a later stage”.
But amid this, as far as Manipur is concerned, a lot of the misinformation being spread and consumed within the State is coming from traditional local media (television and newspapers). Once published, these are reaching people through channels other than the internet, albeit slower than if the internet was freely made available.
The tension between the real-time documenting of the situation on ground in Manipur and the ramifications it could have within the State is defined by another complication: the SFLC has argued that the availability of connectivity defines the response of society, and in the absence of this connectivity, the situation in Manipur could stay on the boil.
“The fact that an event that occurred on May 4 in the State has now been taken cognizance [of] by the apex court on July 20 shows how the reporting of events has been hampered by the shutdown, thereby preventing appropriate responses from the various arms of the Government and civil society,” SFLC said.
Also read | Before parading women naked in Manipur, mob killed people and torched houses, June 21 FIR states
The internet shutdown remains in place in Manipur, with only fixed line internet connections — a rare facility in the State — allowed with a slew of restrictions. This also came after an 83-day shutdown of internet services, only after a Bench of the Manipur High Court nudged the government in that direction.
