Transparency International Bangladesh on Wednesday demanded an immediate repeal of the Digital Security Act, saying that only an amendment to this restrictive law is not a solution at all.
The DSA’s unacceptability is not just because of its numerous clauses that violate fundamental rights, the TIB said in a statement.
An arbitrary misuse of the law is largely to blame as insecurity has developed in the media, and among the civil society and general people in the name of digital security, it observed.
The anti-corruption organisation called for a new law to be formulated only for securing digital infrastructure and for its contemporary use in the light of international experience in the relevant sector.
In its statement sent to the media, TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said, ‘Through the Digital Security Act, fear and insecurity have been created for the media, civil society and ordinary people in the name of digital security.’
Since its enactment in 2018, an arbitrary misuse of various restrictive clauses in the Act has proved beyond doubt that it is contrary to people’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression, he pointed out.
‘The law, which takes away freedom of the press and punishes dissident, is against the spirit of freedom,’ Iftekharuzzaman said, adding that it was turning a section of law enforcers into lawbreakers.
This law has been used arbitrarily to suppress the dissent and the voice of the media, torture minorities, and also for making arrests with cases after prolonged disappearances and even for inflicting custodial torture after arrest, said the TIB head.
‘Even though the government is talking about amending this law, there is no other option but to completely revoke it,’ he added.
In an increasingly technology-dependent digital Bangladesh, there is a definite need for a law to support a safe and healthy use of digital media, argued the TIB official.
‘We urge the government to take initiatives to enact a new cyber security law to secure its use,’ he said.
