Cyber security case after bail: Is speaking in public interest a crime?

Police arrested graphic designer and poet Shamim Ashraf under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for posters about the activities of Mymensingh City Corporation and sued him later under Cyber Security Act. This is a reprehensible and worrying incident.

According to the Prothom Alo report, police detained Shamim Ashraf from his house at Atharobari Building area in the city on Sunday night. This young poet was arrested in the month of February which is revered for people who were martyred to establish the right of mother language. Writers and poets of Mymensingh called out his arrest and protests were seen on social media too.

Mymensingh senior judicial magistrate Md Tajul Islam Sohagh granted him bail on Tuesday after a hearing.

After Shamim secured bail, the Mymensingh city corporation filed a case against him under the Cyber Security Act. The city corporation authorities allege in the case that Shamim Ashraf designed posters as propaganda against the city corporation using the logo of Mymensingh City Corporation between 7 and 18 February and pasted those posters at different places in the city. The propaganda posters were found in Shamim’s computer and other devices.

Confirming the matter, the city corporation’s lawyer said judge Bozlur Rahman of the cyber tribunal took the case into cognizance and asked any investigation agency to probe the case. Shamim Ashraf has been vocal against traffic jams, water logging and other problems in the city corporation area. His exceptional protest of standing on knee-deep water in the Brahmaputra River against the irregularities in the excavations work of the river drew attention of people around the country. This proves that Shamim Ashraf’s movement focuses on greater interest of people rather than of any insular interests.

No matter who is in helm of the city corporation, this body is not anyone’s personal property and it belongs to the people. Anyone has the right to criticise this body as it is run by taxpayers money.

How could the posters such as ‘City dwellers want servers, not exploiters’ or ‘Why are people burdened with holding tax’ become slanderous to anyone? There is no law in the country prohibiting putting up posters on civic issues and concerns. Raising a voice on these public interest issues cannot be deemed as any crime.

There is an allegation that Awami League’s internal conflict in Mymensingh was behind the case of Shamim Ashraf. The posters he designed in the last parliamentary elections played a role in creating public opinion in favor of a winning candidate and against the losing candidate. That’s why the defeated candidate wanted an explanation from Shamim after the election. The defeated candidate is none other than the brother of Ikramul Haque, who is the immediate past mayor of the city corporation and a candidate in the mayoral election scheduled for 9 March.

Why should a young poet and graphic designer pay the price of Awami League’s internal conflict? In the past, the influential people would incarcerate accused people just by suing them under the Digital Security Act. The Mymensingh City Corporation has set a bad precedent of ensuring arrest of accused under section 54 first as many sections of the Cyber Security Act are bailable.

We demand withdrawal of the case against Shamim Ashraf without further delay.