The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has asked the State government to consider restoring internet services since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, claiming more than 100 lives and displacing at least 35,000 people.
In an order on June 7, MHRC chairperson, Justice Utpalendu Bikash Saha and member K.K. Singh asked Manipur’s Commissioner (Home) to consider restoration of internet services for “providing benefit to the citizens” while “keeping balance the security of the State and right to freedom of expression”.
The order was based on a complaint from one Kammingthang Hangshing, a resident of Mizoram’s capital Aizawl against the suspension of internet services in the Churachandpur district of Manipur. He called the temporary internet ban a human rights violation.
