What Happened
- Access Now, a global digital rights advocacy group, released its annual report titled "Rising Repression Meets Global Resistance: Internet Shutdowns in 2025," documenting 313 internet blackouts across 52 countries in 2025 — the highest number ever recorded since Access Now began tracking in 2016.
- India imposed 65 internet shutdowns in 2025, impacting 12 states and territories — the lowest number for India since 2017, but still described as "alarmingly high for a democracy."
- Myanmar overtook India as the world's leading perpetrator for the second consecutive year with 95 incidents. However, India's historical cumulative total remains the highest globally: 920 out of 2,102 worldwide shutdowns recorded since 2016.
- India's shutdown trend over the decade: 30 (2016) → 69 (2017) → 134 (2018, peak) → 121 (2019) → 108 (2020) → 108 (2021) → 85 (2022) → 116 (2023) → 84 (2024) → 65 (2025).
- The 65 shutdowns were deployed primarily during protests, conflict, communal violence, and religious holidays.
- A notable development: on December 29, 2025, Jammu and Kashmir invoked Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to impose a two-month ban on unauthorised VPN use — approximately 800 users were penalised, including phone searches for banned applications.
- The report notes India is unusual globally because shutdown orders are legally required to be published — yet shutdowns continue regardless.
- Asia Pacific accounted for 195 of 313 global shutdowns (across 11 countries).
Static Topic Bridges
Legal Framework for Internet Shutdowns in India
Internet shutdowns in India were historically imposed under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allowed magistrates to issue prohibitory orders. In 2017, the government formally regularised the practice through the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, framed under Section 7 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. Under these Rules, a "competent authority" (Union Home Secretary or State Home Secretary — or a Joint Secretary in urgent circumstances) may order a suspension; the order must be reviewed within 24 hours and by a Review Committee within 5 working days. Under the new BNSS (which replaced the CrPC), Section 163 now covers similar prohibitory order powers. Crucially, the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (January 2020) held that internet access is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a) and that shutdown orders must be published and tested for necessity and proportionality.
- The 2017 Rules require: (i) reasoned orders by the competent authority, (ii) forwarding to a Review Committee by the next working day, (iii) Review Committee meeting within 5 working days.
- Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (SC, 2020): internet shutdowns are a "drastic measure" permissible only if lawful, necessary, and proportionate; orders must be published.
- Despite the publication requirement, Access Now notes that India regularly imposes shutdowns without publicly available orders.
- The J&K VPN ban (December 2025) under BNSS Section 163 represents a new legal avenue being used to restrict circumvention tools.
- Maximum duration of a single shutdown order under the 2017 Rules: 15 days (though orders can be renewed).
Connection to this news: Despite the legal requirement for publication established in Anuradha Bhasin, India's high shutdown count indicates that the procedural safeguards remain inadequately enforced — consistent with Access Now's finding of "lacking recognition that shutdowns are fundamentally incompatible with democracy."
Freedom of Speech and the Internet — Article 19 Dimensions
Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression. The Supreme Court has progressively interpreted this to include online expression and, more recently, internet access itself. Reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) permit speech restrictions on grounds of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency/morality, contempt of court, defamation, and incitement to an offence. Internet shutdowns are primarily justified on "public order" and "security of the state" grounds — but courts have increasingly demanded evidence that less intrusive alternatives were considered before a full shutdown was ordered.
- The proportionality test (from Puttaswamy/privacy judgment, 2017): any state restriction on rights must be (a) backed by law, (b) serve a legitimate aim, (c) be proportionate to that aim, and (d) be the least restrictive means available.
- An internet shutdown is a content-neutral blanket restriction — it affects far more speech than the targeted "public order" threat, raising proportionality concerns.
- The Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin said "indefinite" suspension is impermissible; time-limited orders with reasons are required.
- VPN bans represent a second-order restriction — blocking tools that enable circumvention of state-imposed censorship, raising additional free-speech concerns.
Connection to this news: The J&K VPN crackdown illustrates an escalation in India's internet control toolkit — from wholesale shutdowns to targeted restrictions on tools that citizens use to exercise their right to access information.
India's Standing in Global Democracy Rankings and Digital Rights
India's global standing on digital rights and press freedom indices has come under increased scrutiny over the last decade. Reports from organisations like Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, and V-Dem have variously described India as an "electoral autocracy" or a democracy with significant civil liberty constraints — assessments contested by the government. The internet shutdown data from Access Now provides an objective, incident-level dataset: India's 920 shutdowns since 2016 constitute 43.8% of all globally recorded shutdowns in that period, an extraordinary concentration in a single country.
- Jammu and Kashmir alone accounts for a disproportionate share of India's shutdowns; the 2019 revocation of Article 370 was accompanied by a prolonged total internet blackout lasting over 200 days — the longest in any democracy on record.
- The Asia Pacific region (195 shutdowns in 2025, 11 countries) is the global epicentre of internet shutdowns.
- Pakistan recorded 20 shutdowns in 2025, normalised around protests and political events.
- Access Now's coalition: 366 organisations from 106 countries co-publish the report.
- The report calls shutdowns "fundamentally incompatible with democracy" — framing them as governance failures rather than security necessities.
Connection to this news: India's 65 shutdowns in 2025 — the lowest since 2017 but still the highest among democracies — creates a reputational challenge as India positions itself as a global leader in digital public infrastructure (the DPI/UPI/Aadhaar stack) while simultaneously leading in digital connectivity denial.
Key Facts & Data
- India's internet shutdowns in 2025: 65 (across 12 states/territories).
- India's cumulative total (2016–2025): 920 out of 2,102 global shutdowns (43.8%).
- India's peak: 134 shutdowns in 2018.
- Global total in 2025: 313 shutdowns, 52 countries — highest ever recorded by Access Now.
- Myanmar: 95 shutdowns (2025 leader); India: 65.
- J&K VPN ban: December 29, 2025, under BNSS Section 163; ~800 users penalised.
- Key SC judgment: Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (January 2020) — internet access as fundamental right under Article 19(1)(a).
- Legal basis for shutdowns: Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rules, 2017 (under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885); BNSS Section 163.
- Access Now report: "Rising Repression Meets Global Resistance: Internet Shutdowns in 2025," published April 1, 2026.