Bangladesh
Cyber Security Act Cyber Security Act will remove the anxiety of journalists: Law Minister
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 11 August 2023: Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haque said that the problems that journalists were worried about with the proposed cyber security law will be removed. He said these while addressing a press conference on the repeal of the Digital Security Act, 2018 and the proposed Cyber Security Act, 2023 at the BCC Auditorium in the capital.
The press conference chaired by Information and Communication Technology State Minister Junaid Ahmed Palak was attended by the Secretary of Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Department Md. Moinul Kabir, Secretary of Law and Justice Department Md. Golam Sarwar, Secretary of Information and Communication Technology Department Md. Samsul Arefin along with senior officials of the government were present.
The Law Minister said that the proposed Cyber Security Act will be very helpful in stopping cyber crime. In addition, the problems that the journalist community was worried about will also be removed.
He said that the mental pressure created in the people due to the digital security law or the mental pressure or fear created in the media freely reporting the news, will be removed by the cyber security law.
Anisul Haque said that the sentences in the Digital Security Act, which had a lot of punishment and created a lot of controversy, have been reduced in the Cyber Security Act. Several sections of the Digital Security Act, which were non-bailable, have been made bailable in the new law. Many sections of the Digital Security Act provided for double or extended sentences for second offences. Sections of the Digital Security Act, which provide for additional penalties for second-time offences, have been repealed in the new law.
He said, Section 29 of the Digital Security Act was the issue of defamation. It said, (1) If a person publishes or disseminates defamatory information as described in section 499 of the Penal Code (Penal Code) on a website or in any other electronic format, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or with a fine not exceeding five lakh taka or with both. And if any person commits the offense referred to in sub-section (1) for the second time or again, that person shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or with fine not exceeding 10 lakhs or with both. The new Cyber Security Act only provides for fines instead of imprisonment for the offense of defamation.
