Rejecting the draft of the Digital Security Act-2018, several left-leaning parties yesterday demanded that it should be repealed immediately.
The party activists will also hold a rally in front of the capital's Jatiya Press Club on Sunday to press home their demand.
The leaders of the left-leaning parties including Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal and Ganatantrik Bam Morcha said this at a press conference at Mukti Bhaban in the capital.
Terming the proposed digital security
act a gag on freedom of expression, they said this act would protect the corrupt.
"This act... would indirectly give indemnity to the corrupt," said Mujahidul Islam Selim, president of CPB.
He said there is a Right to Information Act in the country. The draft of digital security act is against it. "We will continue our movement and won't let the government pass it in the parliament."
Saifttl Haque, general secretary of Biplobi Workers Party, said the act would be a huge barrier to investigative journalism.
Mushrefa Mishu, convener of
Ganatantrik Bam Morcha, read out a statement, saying that the draft was formulated without taking any opinion from any quarters of the society.
The draft act is contradictory to the constitution and democratic rights, it added. If the act is passed, it will choke freedom of expression.
The speakers said section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act was kept in the proposed law with some changes, despite assurances in the past of eliminating the controversial provision.
Section 57 deals with defamation, hurting religious sentiments, causing deterioration of law and order and instigating against any person or organisation through publishing or transmitting any material in websites or in electronic form. It stipulates maximum 14 years in prison for the offences.
Now, the draft of Digital Security Act-2018 splits these offences into four separate sections with punishment ranging from three to 10 years' term. The proposed law describes some crimes as "non-bailable" and allows a police official to search or arrest anyone without a warrant in special circumstances. On lanuary 29, the cabinet approved the draft of the Digital Security Act-2018.
There would be every chance of the act being misused against people's right to express themselves after it is passed by the Jatiya Sangsad, observed the speakers.
Meanwhile Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) termed the proposed digital security act a threat to the freedom of speech, expression and the safety of citizens, reports UNB.
TIB in a statement yesterday said the proposed act contradicts the constitutional rights of free speech and opinion and the International Convention on the Rights of the People. "The government should amend all the controversial clauses of the law and revise it on the basis of the respective experts and partners immediately,* it added.