Reliance Jio—Reliance Jio complied with unpublished government orders shutting down mobile internet near Delhi protest site
In July 2026, India's Home Ministry ordered telecom operators including Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea to suspend mobile data services within a 1.5km radius of Jantar Mantar in Delhi during an escalating protest, repeatedly extending the shutdown across at least six orders. The Internet Freedom Foundation noted that, as of July 24, no copy of any suspension order had been published by the Home Ministry, Department of Telecommunications, Delhi government, or Delhi Police, in apparent violation of Supreme Court transparency requirements from Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020). All three operators complied without public objection or statement. The shutdown zone included the National Media Centre and Indian Women's Press Corps office, and disrupted digital payments for local vendors.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Internet & Web Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Press Freedom | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.107 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)× agency (compelled ×0.25)
Evidence (1 signal)
Reuters/Hindustan Times: India ordered telecom operators to disable mobile data near Delhi protest, no order made public
India's Home Ministry ordered telecom operators including Reliance Jio to disable mobile data services within a 1.5km radius of Jantar Mantar during an escalating protest, extending the shutdown across at least six orders through July 2026. The Internet Freedom Foundation said no copy of the suspension order had been published by any of the relevant authorities as of July 24, 2026, contrary to Supreme Court transparency requirements.