Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday ruled that right to access internet is a fundamental right 'forming part of right to education (RTE) and right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.'

The order was given by a single bench of Justice P V Asha while allowing a petition filed by a student challenging restrictions on usage of mobile phones in a girls' hostel.

"When the Human Rights Council of the United Nations have found that right to access to internet is a fundamental freedom and a tool to ensure right to education, a rule or instruction which impairs the said right of the students cannot be permitted to stand in the eye of law," the court said.

The petitioner, Faheema Shirin, who is a third-semester student of Sree Narayana College at Chelannur in Kerala's Kozhikode district, alleged that she was forced to vacate from the girls’ hostel as she had challenged the restrictions on mobile phone usage imposed by the college authorities.

As per the hostel rules, inmates were not allowed to use their mobile phones from 6pm to 10pm on all days. The petitioner also claimed that the restrictions were discriminatory on the basis of gender as they were not applicable in the boys’ hostel.

"The mobile phones which were unheard of once and later a luxury has now become part and parcel of the day to day life and even to a stage that it is unavoidable to survive with dignity and freedom... A student above the age of 18 years shall be given the freedom to choose the mode for her studies provided it does not cause any disturbance to others." the court said.

The hostel authorities maintained that the restriction was in the interests of students' discipline to ensure that they study without distractions.