Govt uses DSA as tool to prolong misrule: discussion

Politicians, lawyers, journalists and academics on Thursday in a webinar criticised the government for targeting dissenters and journalists with Digital Security Act and said that the law was being enforced to prolong a non-transparent governing system in the country.

Most of the discussants said that the law needed a review while Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said the law must be repealed to uphold people’s fundamental rights.

Center for Governance Studies organised the webinar titled ‘Digital Security Act 2018: Who are the Real Victims’.

Fisheries and livestock minister SM Rezaul Karim argued that the DSA was an essential law, especially when people were becoming victims of malicious campaigns amid the increased use of the internet in Bangladesh.

He, however, acknowledged that there was scope to review some of the sections of the law.

The minister, formerly a Supreme Court lawyer, blamed a few over overenthusiastic members of law enforcement agencies and ‘hydride’ political activists for misuse of the law.

The misuse of DSA is not acceptable, he added.

Lawmaker Shirin Akhter, the general secretary of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, also advocated for the DSA to ensure secured cyberspace but said that loopholes of the act should be removed.

Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul explained how the DSA was misused against him and others. He said that even he became afraid of writing or speaking anything against prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

He feared he would face the music if he said anything about the 2018 ‘controversial’ general election or found ‘criminal intention’ in the recently leaked phone call between law minister Anisul Huq and one of the prime minister’s advisors.

He said DSA was instrumental in prolonging the ‘non-transparent’ governing system in the country.

Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua differed with other discussants and said the DSA should be repealed.

He said ambiguous wording in DSA 2018, particularly under Section 25, helped surge in cases.

He said that most of the cases under the DSA were being filed by third parties, not the victim. It goes against laws, he said, adding that the constitution and law stated that there could not be multiple cases on the same issue.

Jyotirmoy said there should be a legal framework for the pre-trial stage of the case.

Gono Adhikar Parishad member secretary and Dhaka University Central Students’ Union former vice-president Nurul Haque Nur said the way the ruling party was using the DSA was hampering freedom of expression.

He said that eleven cases had been filed against him and he did not know why it had happened to him.

Private television channel NTV’s head of news Zahirul Alam observed that the journalist community was paying the highest price due to DSA.

‘It [DSA] has a chilling effect on journalists,’ he concluded.

Quoting a study of CGS over the application of DSA, the organisation’s executive director Zillur Rahman said journalists were made accused in 9.25 per cent of DSA cases.

Compared to people from other professions, the arrest of journalists in DSA is disproportionately higher, the study found.

An analysis of the cases filed by the victims revealed that an overwhelming majority of people were not directly affected by the alleged crime.

At least 80 per cent of accusers are affiliated with the ruling political party, revealed the study.

Chairing the webinar, Manjur Ahmed Chowdhury, the chairman at CGS, said the cyberspace of Bangladesh was becoming a dangerous minefield where people fear to speak their minds.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/163010/dsa-becomes-a-tool-to-prolong-misrule-discussion