Review digital security act draft

The media can in no way be assured by the digital security act draft, being finalised at a meeting of the standing committee for the post, telecommunications and IT ministry. The committee has not made any official statement in this regard, but from the unofficial reports, there is ample reason for concern.

After the digital security act draft was approved on 29 January this year, it was met with a volley of criticism. Persons concerned say this proposed law is even sterner than Section 57 of the ICT act that had been censured by the media. The law minister and others in the government had said that the digital security act would not affect media freedom. Members of the media had even been invited to join the parliamentary committee to voice their objections and recommendations.

We had naturally expected that their objections would be taken into consideration and adjustments made accordingly. But the changes that have been made by the committee do not curb the scope to muzzle the media. The main objection had been to the clause where a journalist could be charged with espionage while gathering information without permission. This clause remains intact in the draft. It is on the lines of the official secrets act and this law introduced by the British rulers is certainly questionable. While the right to information law was passed in keeping with Bangladesh socioeconomic realities, it is still difficult to access official documents and information.

By retaining the controversial clause in the new law, not only has the media been muffled from revealing the truth, but the government too has been given scope to conceal information. The government should be concerned whether the information is true or not, not about the source of information. There is provision to take legal action against the publication of fake news. There can be no justification in retaining the clause involving espionage.

There is definitely need to review the draft once again before it is placed in parliament. The commitments made by the ministers have not been reflected in the draft. The changes brought about by the parliamentary committee have done nothing to assuage concerns about obstructing press freedom.

Hastily passing the law before the election will be nothing but repeating past blunders rather than rectifying them. This will not bode well for either the government or the media.