Faheema Shirin R.K. v State of Kerala

• The petitioner was a third-semester B.A. student at Sree Narayanaguru College, Chelannur, Kozhikode, an aided college affiliated to the University of Calicut, and lived in its women's hostel
• Hostel inmates could not use mobile phones from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and undergraduates could not use laptops in the hostel
• From 20 June 2019, after complaints from some parents, the phone ban was changed to 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., with phones to be surrendered to the warden
• The petitioner objected, and by a memo dated 5 July 2019 she was told to vacate the hostel; she was later directed to leave within 12 hours and found her room locked
• She filed a writ petition challenging her expulsion and the restrictions

1. Whether the hostel ban on mobile phone use from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. infringed the student's fundamental rights
2. Whether her expulsion from the hostel for refusing to follow that ban could stand

• Reading international norms into fundamental rights (Vishaka), the right to have access to the internet is part of the right to education and the right to privacy under Article 21
• Adult students are entitled to decide how to use their phones; the ban had no connection to any act of indiscipline and blocked the means of acquiring knowledge
• The ban infringed the students' freedom and privacy and was unreasonable
• The college was directed to re-admit the petitioner to the hostel; she was in turn not to cause disturbance to others by her phone use
• The writ petition was allowed to that extent

Access to the internet is part of the right to education and the right to privacy under Article 21. A restriction on adult students' use of mobile phones and the internet must be connected to a real disciplinary need; a blanket evening ban that is not so connected is unreasonable and cannot justify expulsion from a hostel.