Discussions should be held with the media
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Secretary Dewan Hanif Mahmud.
Ever since the enactment of DSA in 2018, the Editors’ Council and other media stakeholders expressed serious concerns.
The council is waiting to see where the government stands regarding the replacement of the DSA with the Cyber Security Act.
“The government did not take into account the concerns of media stakeholders, including the Editors’ Council, when it enacted the Digital Security Act in 2018.
“It was expected that the stakeholders would be consulted and their views would be taken into consideration in case of an amendment or repeal.
“But it seems the government is taking steps to prepare the draft of the proposed cyber security law without doing anything like this,” said the statement.
The government has not officially released any details about the proposed cyber security law.
The council cannot but fear that nothing has changed, except in some instances, sentences were reduced and non-bailable offences were made bailable.
Offences under sections 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 31, 32 and 46 of the DSA are non-bailable. In the draft law, offences under these sections will be bailable.
It is pointless to simply change the name of the law, the council said.
When it comes to defamation by reporting, the provision of a fine of Tk 25 lakh has replaced imprisonment. But if the punishment for defamation under the penal code is not amended, the new provision will be ineffective, it added.
Secondly, if the fine of Tk 25 lakh is not paid, the accused will face imprisonment.
There has been a demand for repealing sections 21 and 28 of the DSA because those are against freedom of expression.
Both nationally and internationally, these sections are deemed as tools for harassing political opponents. Keeping these two provisions by reducing the punishment will leave scope for their misuse, the council added.
It is more worrying that section 32 of the DSA has been kept, it said, adding that the colonial-era Official Secrets Act of 1923 is still in place.
The colonial rulers enacted that act because they did not trust the people of this country. There is no justification for this law in independent Bangladesh, said the statement. According to section 43 of the DSA, police could enter homes, search offices and individuals, and seize computers, computer networks, servers and digital platforms.
Police can arrest anyone on suspicion without needing a warrant.
“This virtually gives the police some kind of ‘judicial power’ which is unacceptable. Since this section also remains in place, the new cyber security law cannot be considered as something new.”