Mobile Internet can be banned under S. 144 CrPC, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal challenging a judgment of the Gujarat High Court which had upheld the ban on mobile internet under S.144 of Code of Criminal Procedure..A Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and R Banumathi J. remarked that there can be such ban for law and order. Advocate Apar Gupta, one of Forbes 30 under 30, appeared for the appellant, Gaurav Sureshbhai Vyas..The primary argument raised by the appellant was that the ban, imposed under S.144, was not teneble since there was a provision under Telegraph Act, a special law to deal with such situations. Gupta argued that when a special law is in place it will override the general statute and consequently the ban should not have been imposed under S. 144..The Bench, however, said that there can be concurrent powers..“It becomes very necessary sometimes for law and order. There can be concurrent powers”, remarked Justice Thakur before dismissing the petition..The ban on mobile Internet was imposed by the Gujarat government for around 10 days during the Patidar agitation in 2015. Similar bans have been imposed in other States as well, including Jammu & Kashmir.