Pranesh Prakash, research fellow at LIRNEasia, who called Section 163 “an analogue to Section 144 of the earlier Indian Penal Code”, also acknowledged that an emergency may indeed have existed in this case, but the specific action taken, of blocking VPNs, falls outside the legal powers granted to magistrates. While the Doda administration frames VPNs as a threat, both the Indian judiciary and central government have acknowledged their legitimate role in safeguarding privacy and access to information. While the judgment primarily dealt with internet shutdowns, it implied that tools like VPNs, which enable secure and private access to information, play a critical role in protecting citizens' rights to free expression and privacy, especially in regions facing connectivity restrictions.