Mentioning that there is still a scope of discussion over the proposed Digital Security Act, Law Minister Anisul Huq on Tuesday said a subsection will be inserted into section 32, if needed.
“A subsection will be incorporated in section 32 of the act if it seems in discussions that the freedom of expression will be hampered,” he said while talking to reporters after inaugurating a training course for district and session’s judges and equivalent judicial officials at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in the city.
According to section 32 of the Digital Security Act, resorting to digital theft by capturing any confidential information of government and semi-government, autonomous and statuary bodies by using computer, computer network, digital network or any other electronic devices through illegal access is cognisable offence.
The minister said there will be an elaborate discussion on the proposed law at the parliamentary standing committee which is the right place for talks. “The scope of discussions has opened up with the placing of bill in Parliament,” he said.
If it is deemed that the freedom of expression and freedom of speech are hampered, a subsection will surely be inserted, he said.
Earlier at a meet-the-press programme at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on February 6, the minister said the section 32 of the proposed was not brought targeting journalists. “A sub-section will be included, if necessary, to protect journalists,” he had said.
The Digital Security Bill, 2018, aiming to deal with cybercrimes, including hurting the religious sentiment, negative propaganda against the Liberation War and the Father of Nation, and illegal activities in e-transactions and spreading defamatory data, was placed in Parliament on Monday.
