The President has signed the newly passed Digital Security Act in the Parliament. Abdul Hamid. President's Press Secretary Zainal Abedin informed the media.
The Digital Security Act came into effect with the President's signature. Ignoring the objections, concerns and opinions of various parties inside and outside the National Parliament, the Digital Security Act was passed in Parliament on September 26.
The editors announced a human chain to protest the passing of the law. After that, the Minister of Law, Information and Posts and Telecommunications held a meeting with them. There, the media objected clauses were assured to be resolved through discussion.
In a press conference at Ganobhaban on October 3, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that if there is no criminal mind, there is no reason to worry about the Digital Security Act.
According to the Digital Security Act, section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act will be repealed if the Act comes into force. However, in this Act itself, the controversial Section 57 issues have been scattered in four sections. Apart from this, the police have been given the power to search and arrest without warrant or authorization. This Act inserted the 'Official Secrets Act', a much-criticized colonial-era law. The offense under Section 14 of the Act shall be non-bailable. Any citizen of Bangladesh who violates this law anywhere in the world can be prosecuted under this law.
Organized crime under this Act will be tried in the Tribunal. The case must be settled within 180 working days of the complaint. If it is not possible at this time, the time can be extended to a maximum of 90 working days. The Act states that the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2009 shall be applicable in matters relating to Right to Information.
Dissemination of offensive, false or intimidating information by digital means; Disclosure of defamatory information; hurt religious feelings; Impairment of law and order, unauthorized collection and use of personal information, etc., are punishable by imprisonment. Some members of the opposition also raised objections to several sections of the law. But those objections did not last.
Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar took up the bill in Parliament for passage. 11 MPs from the opposition Jatiya Party and one independent proposed to gauge public opinion and conduct further experiments on the bill. However, three MPs were not present. And Jatiya Party Kazi Firoz Rashid withdrew his proposal.
The controversial Section 57 issues have been scattered in four sections in this Act. The offense under Section 14 of the Act shall be non-bailable. Any Bangladeshi from anywhere in the world who violates this law can be prosecuted.
The Cabinet approved the draft Digital Security Act on January 29. Since then, various parties, including journalists, have been objecting to several sections of this law. The Editorial Board formally objected to 8 (8, 21, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32 and 43) sections of the Act. The editorial board thinks that these clauses can be an obstacle in the way of freedom of speech and independent journalism. Apart from this, diplomats from 10 Western countries and the European Union expressed concern over the 4 clauses of this law. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) called for a review of Article 9.
In the face of objections, the government said that necessary amendments will be brought in the law through the parliamentary committee. In this context, the parliament sent the bill to the parliamentary committee for examination on April 9. The parliamentary committee also held a two-round meeting on the bill with the representatives of three organizations of journalists, Adreya Parishad, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and Association of Television Channel Owners. Necessary amendments were also assured. But in the end no major changes were made in the law. Some of the clauses which were objected to by various parties include clarification of interpretation in some places, reduction of sentence and some wording and linguistic amendments.
