The civil society of Bangladesh has demanded the repeal of the Digital Security Act. The representatives of the civil society made this demand after discussing the law with the Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Haque. However, the law minister said that he will meet them again on March 30 and answer them. He thinks it will end that day. At the same time, during the meeting on Tuesday at 12 noon, the law was published on the web to ensure digital security and make provisions for detection, prevention, suppression, prosecution and related issues of crimes committed through digital media.
Five representatives of civil society – Iftekharuzzaman, Dr. CR Abrar, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, Rezaur Rahman Lenin, Saimum Reza Talukder and Sharmin Khan. The proposed data protection law was supposed to be discussed in the meeting but it was not done due to lack of time. For this, it was further reviewed and it was decided to meet again on April 6.
Apart from the Law Minister, Information and Communication Technology State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, ICT Division Secretary Samsul Arefin, Digital Security Agency Director General Abu Saeed Md Kamruzzaman, a2i Program Policy Adviser Anir Chowdhury and related officials were present in the meeting.
After the meeting, in the presence of the law minister, Iftekharuzzaman, the executive director of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), told reporters that two laws would be discussed today. A Digital Security Act, which is already in force. We have discussed the concerns about that in detail.
He said that all the citizens of the country, including the media, have a great concern about the Digital Security Act. The minister also said in his discussion that it is being misused, in many cases that the government is aware of.
The executive director of TIB said, we have presented many arguments in a very logical manner, we think that this law needs to be repealed, and there is no other option. Fundamental deviations and areas of concern, as well as opportunities for abuse, have been purposefully provided for in the Act.
Given that, we think that even if the law is amended, it may not be acceptable to everyone. We are concerned that public welfare will not be at the fore. That is why we think the law should be repealed. Iftekharuzzaman said that we had the discussion in view of that.
He said that, those who were with him told us that the minister will take it into consideration. What will be the position we need to know from the minister, from the government. The second issue was to discuss the draft Data Protection Act. But due to lack of time it was not discussed. Another new draft of it was published on the website today. A copy of the same has been handed over to us.
On the other hand, Law Minister Anisul Haque said that efforts are underway to amend the Digital Security Act. This law requires however, efforts are being made to eliminate the errors. A decision can be taken in the next meeting on March 30. There have been several comments and suggestions regarding the Data Protection Act. The next decision will be taken by meeting again on April 6.
He also said that two laws were supposed to be discussed today. One is the Digital Security Act; the other is the Data Protection Act. As a new draft of the Data Protection Act has been uploaded on the website today, they have not seen it. For that reason, I have reached this decision through mutual discussion and will sit on the Data Protection Act on April 6. It will be discussed there. As far as I know many of the suggestions made in the previous meeting have been considered there.
When asked about the cancellation decision, he said that he saw that the discussion was going on. We are trying to listen to all sides. The Digital Security Act is meant to fight cybercrime, which is where we want to be. Everyone has said about the necessity of this law. If it can be done well, if the criticism can be removed; that is what I am trying.