Since, late January local rights activists and journalists have raised a strong voice against the Draft Act, saying they were frightened by the proposed law. Particularly, sections 21, 25 and 28 of the Draft Law, which will deal with defamation, hurting religious sentiments or negative propaganda against the Liberation War or the Father of the Nation using digital devices – these are the most dangerous and confusing ones. In many ways these sections are blatant attempts to crush any form of dissent, free thinking and penning and voicing of honest opinions – which are severe blows to the country’s fragile democracy too.
Upsettingly enough, the new Act is shaped when Bangladesh ranks 92nd on the Democracy Index 2017 out of 165 countries and two territories, with an overall score of 5.43 out of 10 points – the worst ever performance since the index was introduced in 2006. A year ago, it ranked 84th with a score of 5.73 on the 2016 index. The new Act shouldn’t anyhow aggravate the ranking and take Bangladesh further below while making a mockery of our democracy.
Our view is no different from the foreign envoys that the new Act would suppress freedom of expression in multiple ways. We are particularly alarmed about the threat of severe punishment for merely expressing a belief or opinion, about the imprecise terminology which could lead to misinterpretation of law, non-availability of bail for certain offences and the empowerment of the security agency to detain a citizen without warrant by court – the scopes for abusing these sections have been kept deliberately loose and open.
Let us hope that the assurance of the Law Minister will be materialised and the anxiety over press freedom will be allayed in other ways also.
