Opinion | At last, internet access as a fundamental right

On Friday, the Supreme Court declared that access to the internet is protected under Article 19 of the Constitution. In response to a plea against the suspension of internet services in Jammu and Kashmir since last August, a three-judge bench of the Court affirmed that the right to freedom of speech and expression, as guaranteed to all citizens under the first section of that article, covers the right to go online. In effect, even if left unsaid, this would make net access a fundamental right. This would mark a major advance for a country that has attracted opprobrium from around the world for the sheer number of internet clampdowns imposed. It would also update a crucial aspect of democratic existence to the information age, place India in the league of progressive jurisdictions, and begin to harmonize our legal outlook with that of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which upheld net access as a human right in 2016. It’s clear that nobody’s voice should be muzzled, after all, and barring self-expression online amounts to exactly that.