Harassing sections omitted in new draft of cyber law

  • Some 9 sections of the cyber security act have been omitted from the new draft. Some of these were highly controversial.

  • The section related to bullying has also been excluded.

Cyber securityCollected

The section on the crime related to cyber bullying has been omitted from a new draft of the Cyber Security Ordinance. This new section was added after the interim government took over. It sparked widespread criticism.

Some nine sections of the Cyber Security Act which was enacted during the regime of the ousted Awami League government have been excluded from the draft of the cyber security ordinance prepared by the interim government.

Experts say the omission of controversial sections will limit the opportunities to harass people for expressing their opinions.

Different aspects of the draft were highlighted in a press conference organised at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division in the capital’s Agargaon on Wednesday.

It was said at the press conference that the draft had been uploaded on the website of the division on Wednesday. The Division will take opinions from the stakeholders till 6 February. After that, there will be discussions on it. Following that, the revised draft will be sent to the advisory council for approval.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) executive director Ifterkharuzzaman welcomed the initiative to prepare the draft taking opinions of all stakeholders into account saying, “It’s a positive sign that the government has moved away from the tendency to do things hastily.”

The advisory council approved a draft of the Cyber Security Ordinance – 2024. However, the approved draft was highly criticised. Section 25 of that draft contained a provision titled Cyber Bullying. According to that provision, it is an offence to ‘transmit, publish or disseminate any information with intent to insult, harass or defame’ a person.

In the face of massive criticism, a new draft of the act was prepared. It was said in the press conference that it could take around six weeks to finalise the draft after taking opinions from all stakeholders.

Addressing the press conference, ICT Division secretary Shish Haider Chowdhury said the draft has been prepared on the basis of discussions at different levels. Besides, they also sought consents from the TIB, different new media and civic society.

Analysing those opinions the draft has been updated as per the suggestions from law experts.

Controversial law: Then and now

The initiative to legislate a law to prevent digital crimes was taken in 2006. The Information and Technology Act was enacted in the same year. However, section 57 of the law was highly controversial. The section states, ““If any person deliberately publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the website or in any other electronic form any material which is false and obscene and if anyone sees, hears or reads it having regard to all relevant circumstances, its effect is such as to influence the reader to become dishonest or corrupt, or causes to deteriorate or creates possibility to deteriorate law and order, prejudice the image of the state or person or causes to hurt or may hurt religious belief or instigate against any person or organisation, then this activity will be regarded as an offence.”

The maximum and minimum punishment was 14 years and 7 years of rigorous imprisonment respectively under this act. The accused could be fined a maximum of Tk 10 million, as per the section 57. The problem was, the offences under this law were not clearly defined, which created vast opportunities to harass people.

In the face of massive criticism, the then government introduced the Digital Security Act. It divided the provisions of Section 57 into several sections and the government and the ruling party started using it for political benefits.

Addressing a parliamentary session in June 2023, the then law minister Anisul Huq said as of 31 January 2023, as many as 7,001 cases had been filed under the Digital Security Act (DSA) since its inaction.

Analysing the information of some 1,436 cases filed under the DSA, the Centre for Government Studies (CGS) published a report in April 2024 which stated some 32 per cent of the accused were politicians and 29 per cent were journalists. In most cases, the plaintiffs were leaders and activists of the Awami League. The CGS said 78 per cent of the plaintiffs of these cases were affiliated with Awami League’s politics.

Later, the Awami League government was forced to repeal the DSA in the face of protest from home and abroad, including the United Nations (UN) in September 2023 and introduced a new law – the Cyber Security Act. However, there was no change in the controversial sections of the law except reduction of punishment. It stirred massive criticism at the time.

The interim government, after taking over following the July mass uprising, declared to repel the cyber security act. As part of the announcement, a draft of the Cyber Security Ordinance was prepared.

The ICT Division secretary said some nine sections of the controversial Cyber Security Act have been excluded in the new draft. Those are sections 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31 and 34.

Four of these were most controversial. These sections made it offensive to publish or publicise anything that undermines the liberation war, its spirit, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the national flag, taking disguise, aggressive statements to intimidate people and derogatory information regarding a person. These sections have been omitted.

The section 24 was regarding the crime related to forging one's identity. This has been mentioned partially in Section 23 of the new draft. Section 26 of the old draft was about collecting and using information without permission. The section 22 of the new draft talks about similar offences.

The Section 27 of the old draft mentioned punishment for crimes related to cyber terrorism, which has been slotted in the Section 23 of the new draft. The section 28 of the old draft was about hurting religious sentiments.

Similar provisions regarding hurting religious sentiments on cyber space have been slotted in the Section 26 of the new draft. Section 34 of the old draft was about the rules regarding filing false cases. It has been mentioned in the Section 28 of the new draft.

TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said Bangladesh is a land of various kinds of beliefs. The provisions regarding racial conflicts may bring up the issue of racial discrimination towards these people of other beliefs.

Limited scope of arrest without warrant

The DSA and CSA both had provisions of punishment for undermining the national flag and anthem. It was excluded in the approved draft. Later, it was included in another draft and got omitted again from the final draft.

There were provisions of conducting searches, confiscation and arrest without warrant in the CSA. In the new draft, the provision of arrest without warrant has been kept only for crimes related to hacking.

The Bangladesh telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will be able to request for blocking contents under some eight sections of the new draft. However, a provision of publishing the list of content that has been blocked has been added to bring transparency.

Asked about this BRAC University part time teacher at the law department, Md Saimum Reza Talukder told Prothom Alo, “The issues of cyber safety, content moderatiuon and prevention of cybercrime have not been mentioned separately in the ordinance. Therefore, it is uncertain as to how effective and people friendly this law will be. However, it won’t be that harmful as there is no repressive provision like it was in the DSA or CSA”

’90-95 per cent cases to be dismissed’

During the press conference of the ICT Division, Shish Haider Chowdhury said that efforts are on to ensure that people do not fall victim to harassment and there’s no negative impact from the ordinance.

Policy adviser (coordination and reform) at the ICT Division, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb said at the press conference that exclusion of the nine controversial sections would result in the dismissal of 90 to 95 per cent cases filed under those sections. The current government doesn’t want any suppressive law.

When asked, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb told Prothom Alo that the ordinance is enriched, humanitarian and citizen-friendly from the technical and descriptive point of view. There are rules for cyber protection of government and private institutions here. And it will not obstruct citizens’ freedom of expression.  

He added, “If the political government does not manipulate it, this ordinance will provide adequate protection to citizens in the cyber world. No matter how precise the law is, if the practice of civilised culture is absent among political parties, any law can be misused.”