Mobile services including internet, voice calls, and SMS were on Thursday suspended in parts of Delhi amid heavy protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019. Reports of the services being affected in other parts of the country also poured in as the government cracked down on protestors.
Highlights:
- Voice calls, data and SMS services have been affected in certain parts
- Airtel has informed its customers that as per government directive, data services are now restricted in parts of Delhi
The Delhi Police on Thursday directed the nodal officers of all mobile operators including Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea to suspend mobile services from 9 am to 1 pm in the Walled City area of north and central districts, Mandi House, Seelampur, Jaffarbad and Mustafabad, Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh, Bawana.
The newly-minted law accords citizenship rights to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and has been panned by critics as unconstitutional and discriminatory against Muslims.
On Wednesday, Karnataka chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government announced the imposition of Section 144 across Bengaluru and other parts of the state to disallow more protests against the CAB and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in India’s technology capital.
According to reports, Section 144 was also imposed in parts of Delhi.
CAB Protests have engulfed Delhi, parts of the northeastern states, especially Assam, spreading to other parts in the country where students and others have been relentlessly agitating against CAB and NRC (National Register of Citizens).
