The Kerala High Court held that the right to have access to the Internet is part of the fundamental right to education as well as the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
About:
It made the observation while ordering the principal of Sree Narayanaguru College, Kozhikode, to re-admit a student who had been expelled from the college hostel for using her mobile phone beyond the restricted hours.
Arguments by Court:
The Human Rights Council of the United Nations has found that the right of access to Internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to ensure right to education.
The Supreme Court in the S. Rengarajan and others v. P. Jagjivan Ram (1989) case said that “ the fundamental freedom under Article 19(1)(a) can be reasonably restricted only for the purposes mentioned in Article 19(2) and the restriction must be justified on the anvil of necessity and not the quicksand of convenience or expediency.”
Enforcement of discipline hostel authorities shall not be by blocking the ways and means of the students to acquire knowledge.
College authorities as well as parents should be conscious of the fact that the students in a college hostel are adults capable of taking decisions as to how and when to study.
Mobile phones, once a luxury, have now become become "part and parcel of the day to day life and even to a stage that it is unavoidable to survive with dignity and freedom", observed the Court.
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