The government has decided to scrap the ‘Digital Security Act (DSA), 2018’ as well as to rename the law following some amendments. The decision was taken in the Cabinet meeting on Monday (August 7).
As per the decision, the law will be replaced by ‘Cyber Security Act, 2023’. The Cabinet approved the draft of the proposed law. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the Cabinet meeting.
Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq confirmed the development to the media.
The minister said that some changes will come in the amendments to the Digital Security Act, which will be renamed - Cyber Security Act. “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government is working for the people. We have taken measures to stop the misuse and abuse of DSA through some amendments,” he said.
The minister, however, specified that the DSA is not being repealed, but amended. “When the new Cyber Security Act is enacted, the Digital Security Act will no longer be there. The non-bailable clauses of the law will now be made bailable,” he said.
He also said that in the Digital Security Act, there was provision for prison sentence in the case of defamation in any news report. The proposed ‘Cyber Security Act, 2023’ will not have jail terms for defamation cases.
“One of the important things that is new is that there was a provision of jail and fine in defamation cases, it has been proposed to remove the jail provision and keep only the provision of fine,” he said.
Anisul Huq said that the fines will be the same for journalists as in the case of civil suits.
The Cyber Security Act will be passed in the next session of Parliament in September, according to the minister.
The law minister this year had several times said that DSA will not be repealed and that the law will be amended to prevent its misuse. He recently made a commitment to amend the law by next month.
Lastly, during a meeting with a US delegation on July 13, Anisul Huq told the delegation that the Digital Security Act will be amended by September as well as within the current Awami League government’s tenure to minimise its misuse and ensure best practices.
The Digital Security Act was enacted on October 8 in 2018 with the aim of preventing the spread of racism; sectarianism; extremism; terrorist propaganda; and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities through social media, print media or any other electronic media.
However, since its inception, the law has been criticised for its misuse. Various quarters have raised the demand for the law to be abolished or amended.
Anisul Huq told the Parliament last June that since the enactment of the DSA, there have been 7,001 cases filed under the law across the country till January 31 this year.
According to the proposed Cyber Security Act, 2023, jail terms for the publication and dissemination of defamatory content will be eliminated, while offenders will be fined with Tk. 25 lakh. However, anyone who fails to pay the fine can be jailed for a period of three to six months.
Article 29, where jail term was mentioned, has been abolished in the draft law.
Section 29 of the Digital Security Act states, “(1) If any person publishes or transmits any defamatory information as described in section 499 of the Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860) in website or in any other electronic format, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 (three) years, or with fine not exceeding Taka 5 (five) lakh, or with both.”
“(2) If any person commits the offence referred to in subsection (1) for the second time or repeatedly, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 (five) years, or with a fine not exceeding Tk 10 (ten) lakh, or with both.”
The punishment under Section 28 of the Digital Security Act is being reduced to two years in the proposed new law. The Section states, “(1) If any person or group willingly or knowingly publishes or broadcasts or causes to publish or broadcast anything in website or any electronic format which hurts religious sentiment or values, with an intention to hurt or provoke the religious values or sentiments, then such act of the person shall be an offence.
(2) If any person commits an offence under sub-section (1), he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 (five) years, or with fine not exceeding Taka 10 (ten) lakh, or with both.
(3) If any person commits the offence referred to in subsection (1) for the second time or repeatedly, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 (ten) years, or with fine not exceeding Taka 20 (twenty) lakh, or with both.”
