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The mobile internet ban in Gujarat ended Tuesday but not before Ahmedabad city’s detection of crime branch had written to the police commissioner proposing it be extended by another couple of days to prevent “provocation of a riot”.
The internet ban was lifted from Rajkot, Vadodara and other smaller towns Monday while Ahmedabad and Surat had remained under the ban for the seventh day. Surat police said data services were restored in the evening. In Ahmedabad, district collector Rajkumar Beniwal issued orders lifting the ban from rural areas at 5.30 pm Tuesday.
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Collector Beniwal said services in rural areas have been restored. “The decision to restore it in urban areas has to be taken by the police commissioner.”
The city ban was lifted late in the evening, DCP (Crime) Deepan Bhadran told The Indian Express. Before that, he had said, “On social media there are posts that are affecting the friendly relations between communities. In view of this, we wrote to the commissioner office [seeking extension of the ban].”
The DCP also lodged an FIR against unknown “anti-social elements” Tuesday “for spreading provocative messages through social media and various mobile applications”. The FIR charged the accused with spreading “provocative messages, speeches, comments on social media like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube via mobile phones and Internet that could lead to a riot and create fear and insecurity among communities”.