Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The government has decided to scrap the controversial Sections of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act following demands from the journalists community.
Terming the Section 57 of the ICT Act as a ‘black law,’ journalists leaders earlier demanded for revoking the Section.
They also said that was hindering the press freedom.
Over 900 cases were filed under Section 57 after the ICT Act enacted in 2006, according to media reports.
A total of 11 cases were filed against 23 journalists under the Section 57 of the ICT Act since March this year.
On July 3, Nazmul Hossain, a senior reporter of Jamuna Television, was sued for his June 23 Facebook post. The plaintiff, Hazrat Ali Belal, a lawyer of Dinajpur Bar Association, named three others in the case for sharing the post.
June 14, a case was filed against Kazi Motaher Rahman Babu, editor of local daily in Khulna Somoyer Khobor, and its former reporter Shohag Dewan. They were accused of publishing reports with misinformation.
June 13, a case was filed against bdnews24.com staff reporter Golam Mujtaba Dhruba for his report. The plaintiff was a senior assistant judge of Manikganj.
June 6, Brac University teacher and senior journalist Afsan Chowdhury was sued. Lt Gen (retd) Masud Uddin Chowdhury filed a defamation case against Chowdhury for one of his Facebook posts.
“The government has decided to revoke the Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said on Wednesday.
He came up with announcement after emerging from a meeting at the secretariat in the afternoon
“Section 57 and other controversial sections of the ICT Act would be removed as the draft of the Digital Security Act has been finalised,” the minister told the journalists.
He said the ‘check and balance’ of freedom of expression will be incorporated in the Digital Security Act and Broadcast act
Reazuddin Ahmed, a former president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, said, “Section 57 of the ICT Act is a “repressive law” and one of the main reasons of enacting such a law is to control journalists so that they think twice before writing anything about powerful quarters.
“The Section should be repealed as it goes against the spirit of freedom of press and freedom of expression,” he opined.
The ICT law was enacted in 2006. Before its 2013 amendment, maximum punishment for offences under the Section was 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Tk 1 crore.
Besides, police had to seek permission from the authorities concerned to file a case and arrest any person under the law. After the amendment, the maximum jail term was raised to 14 years. And law enforcers were empowered to make arrests without a warrant.
