& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

It'll legitimise a police-run state

Says Zonayed Saki

Staff Correspondent
With the passage of Digital Security Bill, the government would ultimately legitimise a police-run state, Zonayed Saki of Ganasamhati Andolon told a press conference yesterday.
Terming the law repressive, the leftleaning political platform in a statement said it would not only curb press freedom, but would also create panic among people, forcing them to go into self-censorship.
The press conference was held at the platform's central office in Dhaka, where its acting executive coordinator Abul Hasan Rubel read out the statement.
Criticising vagueness of some provisions that leaves scopes for abuse, Zonayed Saki, chief coordinator of the platform, said, "The Digital Security
Act will not only gag people's voice, it will also give [the authorities] legal protection for doing so."
"Law enforcers can apply it any way they wish. It would be used to snatch away citizen's rights," he added. He said the law is undemocratic, antipublic and draconian; the phrase "rule of law" deserves a new definition now.
Saki said the most dangerous provision in the law is Section 43, giving police ultimate power to search or arrest anyone without a warrant.
"They [police] would decide what would tarnish anyone's image, what would be against the spirit of Liberation War and what would be against the state..." Police are given the right to take action even if they think there is a chance that a "crime" would take place, Saki added.
Mentioning recent movements,
Saki said many people, held and taken into remand, were not connected to any political party. "Their crime was that they wrote something against the government," he added.
Criticising Section 57 of the ICT act, Ganasamhati Andolon said cases and arrests under it were still continuing even after the law minister had termed it a "bad law".
But, Section 57 has been incorporated in the new law with harsher provisions, the platform said. Some of the punishments are harsher than criminal offences.
"At times, the punishment is closer to that for murder. Only death sentence was not given. That means, punishment for saying something is harsher than injuring anyone or being involved in corruption," the statement added.
It'll legitimise
FROM PAGE 3
The platform thinks social media activities of people have been a headache for the government.
“That's why the government passed the bill in a hurry to strengthen the repressive power of the administration ahead of the election," said Saki. "The government has no faith in people. They are now giving more benefits to bureaucrats and police officials to remain in power," he added.
The much-debated Digital Security Bill 2018 was passed by Jatiya Sangsad on September 19. Journalists and rights activists have expressed concerns over the new law, saying it was passed without addressing their concerns.