Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Bangladesh readied a new law giving sweeping powers to the police to crack down on cyberoffences and arrest any potential offender without a warrant. The Digital Security Act, passed in Parliament on September 19, drew criticism from journalists and civil society leaders as they said that the law would muffle the freedom of expression. Most of the reactions centred on Section 32 of the law, amid concerns that it would deter investigative journalists from doing their job. Any “illegal” entry to government, semi-government or autonomous organisations and the “secret” recording of information and data on any electronic device carry as many as 14 years in jail, or a fine of 2.5 million taka ($30,000), or both, according to the law. Another contentious issue is that a digital security agency can ask the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to block or remove any information in the media, deemed as a “threat to digital security”. “Our future battle will revolve around digital security. If we fail to provide security to the state and if state security is jeopardised, we will be responsible for that. We cannot let that happen,” Telecoms and ICT minister Mustafa Jabbar told his colleagues in Parliament as he proposed the passage of the Bill. In the days after the Bangladesh Cabinet approved the draft of the Bill, rights campaigners and journalist associations opposed its “draconian” parts. “Given the notoriety of police in Bangladesh in falsely implicating citizens in cases, people have all the good reasons to feel if dissent is going to be further narrowed,” Reaz Ahmad, executive editor of the Dhaka-based United News of Bangladesh, said in an interview by email.
