Mobile Internet service resumed in Assam on Friday morning, the 10th day after it was banned during protests against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Though the Gauhati High Court had ordered its restoration by 5 p.m. on Thursday, the State government had not issued any instruction to the mobile operators. “We did not receive any communication... to continue with the ban, so we resumed the service,” a senior official of private operator Airtel said.
Other operators, like the State-owned BSNL, Reliance Jio and Vodafone, too have resumed their services.
State Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said on Thursday evening that the service would resume from Friday.
A Division Bench of Justices Manojit Bhuyan and Saumitra Saikia gave the direction after hearing four PILs filed by journalist Ajit Kumar Bhuyan, and advocates Bonoshri Gogoi, Randeep Sharma and Debakanta Doley.
Messages, notifications
With resumption of mobile Internet, hundreds of WhatsApp messages and social media notifications clogged the cell phones of users.
Assam witnessed violent protests with three rail stations, post office, bank, bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and many other public properties being set ablaze or totally damaged.
Already five persons have lost their lives in the violence.
Several towns and cities were placed under indefinite curfew, including Guwahati, the epicentre of protests, besides Dibrugarh, Tezpur and Dhekiajuli. Night curfew was imposed in Jorhat, Golaghat, Tinsukia and Charaideo districts.
With the situation returning to normalcy, curfew has been lifted from several cities and relaxed in the rest.
The Gauhati High Court on Friday rejected the State government's plea for reimposing the temporary ban on mobile Internet services for the sake of security.
The court had on Thursday ordered the government to restore the services suspended since December 12.
The Assam police subsequently announced a WhatsApp number asking people to post a screenshot of provocative or objectionable contents posted on social media platforms.
“We are monitoring social media for abusive posts and will not hesitate to take action against people spewing venom. A few cases have already been registered,” a police spokesperson said.
(With inputs from Rahul Karmakar)
