Blog Details

Author - Prakhar Dixit

Faheema Shirin.R.K  vs State Of Kerala and others

On 19th September, 2019 Faheema Shirin,  a 19-year-old student in Kerala, who was suspended from an all-girls' hostel for demanding Internet access from 6pm to 10 pm filed a petition  that right to access internet is a fundamental right forming part of right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.  Her petition in the Kerala High Court succeeded in bringing about the landmark holding ‘Right to Internet Access’ as a fundamental right. W.P(C).No.19716/2019-L 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM.

Shirin, a second-year student of Sree Narayanaguru College in Kozhikode, was expelled from her hostel for refusing to deposit her mobile phone with the warden between 6 pm to 10 pm. The rule was introduced in the college in June. Before that, women students in the hostel had to deposit their mobile phones and laptops with the warden between 10 pm to 6 am. The petitioner said that undergraduate students in her college were not allowed to use laptops in hostels and no mobile phones were allowed between 10 pm to 6 am. But from 24th June this rule was changed  and mobile phones  were disallowed between 6 pm to 10 pm.

Case Summary and Outcome

The High Court of Kerala held that a restriction imposed on the use of mobile phones in a women's hostel was an unreasonable infringement upon the right to access the internet, the right to privacy, and the right to education.

The Honorable High Court of Kerala said that:

“When the Human Rights Council of the UN has found right to access to Internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to ensure right to education, a rule which impairs such a right of students cannot be permitted to stand…”

 The court also suggested that if the college or any institution felt that children may misuse the facility of internet then they should be counseled on use of phones and laptops and the advantages obtained from them . Denying them the facility was no solution and in fact it was an infringement on their rights.  

Access to Internet is a fundamental right which cannot be taken away arbitrarily, a single bench of the Kerala high court has ruled. Justice PV Asha’s order came on a petition of Faheema Shirin, a 19-year-old BA student. The court set aside Shirin’s expulsion and hostel rules which denied Internet access to women students at night.

Shirin had contended that the modern day facilities of mobile and Internet were necessities needed to help a student study. The court said that misuse of these facilities could not be considered reasons for denying access. The misuse can be done at any place and at any time ( not between 10 pm and 6 am and that too in a girls hostel only) and were no grounds for denying access. The Mobile phones have now become a necessary part of life and “unavoidable to survive with dignity and freedom”, the court said and pointed out numerous advantages of technology to argue that such facilities cannot be denied to adults.

 “The usage of mobile phones to enable students to have access to Internet will only enhance opportunities of students to acquire knowledge from all available sources based on which they can achieve excellence and enhance quality and standard of education,” the verdict said and quoted SC rulings that freedom of expression included the right to be informed, the right to know and feeling of protection of “expansive connectivity”.