Law Minister admits the misuse of DSA to some extent

Staff Reporter :
The Digital Security Act (DSA) was misused to some extent and the government is working to amend some rules of the law.
Admitting the fact, Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Advocate Anisul Huq on Saturday said, “We are not denying the fact that there has been some misuse of the Digital Security Act. However, the government is working to improve the provisions.”
The Editors Guild organised a roundtable discussion titled ‘Digital Security Act Debate’ at the Dhaka Gallery in the capital’s Banani on Saturday.
The Law Minister said, that the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) is in discussion with different stakeholders of the country for the improvement of this law.
Quoting the recent Naogaon incident in which a woman was detained and who later died in RAB custody, Anisul Huq said, “It was not the government who misused the law here but an individual who resorted to the DSA for her personal protection.”
According to the minister, “There are some people who have been misusing the DSA and the government is set to take action against them.”
The room for improvement is being thoroughly scrutinized of the DSA, he said and added ” the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs is taking note of the discussion and criticism over the law by taking into account various news and articles published in the country’s mainstream media outlets in this regard.”
Faruq Faisal, Regional Director of Article-19 in South Asia, at the beginning of the discussion, noted that laws are needed to ensure security in the digital world.
“It is important to have laws for digital world security but a fear-mongering law can never be considered a people-friendly or favourable one,” he said.
According to Faruq Faisal, “Some sections of DSA are being misused leaving common people and journalists of the country with a sense of insecurity.”
Nothing that media professionals are being subjected to self-censorship due to the act, he added.
The event was moderated by Mozammel Babu, President of Editors Guild Bangladesh.
Senior lawyer and human rights activist ZI Khan Panna, Barrister Farzana Haque, and JPC General Secretary Shyamal Dutta were also present in the round table discussion.