The High Court (HC) has ordered the authorities concerned to immediately stop all kinds of dangerous online games and apps, including PUBG and Free Fire, in the country to save children and adolescents from moral and social degradation.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah issued the order on Monday (August 16) following a writ.
The court also issued a ruling asking the authorities concerned as to why video sharing and streaming platforms such as Bigo Live, TikTok and Likee should not be banned in the country, informed Deputy Attorney General Nowroz Md Rasel Chowdhury, who represented the state in the hearing.
The court also asked the authorities concerned to explain in 10 days why their inaction to stop such games and apps should not be declared illegal. Secretary of the Post and Telecommunication Division, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, secretaries of the Education Ministry, Home Ministry, Law Ministry and Health Ministry, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) were made respondents.
Earlier on June 24, Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab and Barrister Mohammad Kausar filed the writ with the High Court, seeking its directive to issue an order banning Likee, TikTok, Bigo Live apps, and PUBG and Free Fire games.
The two lawyers of the Supreme Court submitted the writ as a litigation of public interest on behalf of rights organisation ‘Law and Life Foundation’.
In the petition, they requested the higher court to ask the authorities concerned to identify the persons involved in transactions of crores of money, using such apps and games.
At the same time, the petitioners urged the HC to form a committee with technologists, educationists and lawyers to recommend the BTRC for banning games and apps that are harmful to the children and youths.
On June 19, the two petitioners sent a legal notice to the authorities concerned highlighting the negative effects of these games and online video streaming apps on children, teenagers and adolescents.
They said that the online games inspire children and youths to engage in various immoral activities and they get involved in various crimes, creating a teenage gang culture. Furthermore, TikTok followers are engaging in immoral sex activities at pool parties in various secret places.
There have also been recent incidents of money laundering and women trafficking, using TikTok, Likee and Bigo Live, which are highly alarming to the values and the public interest, the legal notice read.
The petitioners filed the writ after failing to receive a response to their legal notice.
It can be mentioned that law enforcers have recently arrested the mastermind behind a human trafficking racket, run through TikTok, who had trafficked more than 500 young girls to India. On the other hand, Hridoy Babu alias TikTok Hridoy had trafficked some 50 girls with the gang’s help. He is now in the custody of Indian police over a recent assault incident.
The gang lured the young girls over the app by promising well-paid jobs across the border and, later, sold them as sex workers in India.
The TikTok issue became the talk of the town after the video of a 22-year-old Bangladeshi girl being tortured by her compatriots in Bengaluru went viral on social media in May this year, prompting the law enforcement agencies to arrest several members of the human trafficking gang.
On the other hand, the Chinese video-sharing social networking service TikTok has been banned in a number of countries.
Citing severe detrimental effects of online games and their addiction among teenagers and youths, many people, including guardians, have been demanding a ban on the destructive online games in Bangladesh.
President of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Users Association Mohiuddin Ahmed said that the guardians are now being compelled to provide internet service, laptop, smartphones and other devices to their children so that they could take part in online classes.
However, many students are now wasting time on many online gaming platforms. Against this backdrop, the harmful online games have to be banned in the country to save the school-going children, he added.
