The court was hearing petitions filed by Kashmir Times Executive Editor Anuradha Bhasin and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad

The UT administration had earlier said that restrictions were placed on internet to prevent Pakistani and separatist propaganda from inciting people.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its order on petitions challenging the restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of scrapping of special status, with a three-judge bench observing that it “will have to balance” the arguments of the petitioners and respondents.

“They also say you are not providing any material… They say it’s a temporary arrangement,” Justice N V Ramana, heading the bench, told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, adding “we have to balance both sides”.

The remarks came as Sibal questioned the figures submitted by the J&K administration about the number of people accessing hospitals and internet booths, number of public vehicles on roads, etc. to back its claim that normalcy was returning to the region. Sibal said the statistics “do not reflect what is happening on the ground” and that “it doesn’t mean people are using it”.

The court was hearing petitions filed by Kashmir Times Executive Editor Anuradha Bhasin and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The UT administration had earlier said that restrictions were placed on internet to prevent Pakistani and separatist propaganda from inciting people.