City Desk :
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul on Tursday said all black laws like Cyber Security Act (CSA) 2023 will be scrapped in phases.
“Bangladesh will be freed from all black laws in phases. The countrymen would see a discrimination free Bangladesh through amending those acts,” he said, reports BSS.
The adviser said this in a view-exchange meeting on amending CSA 2023 at the Judicial Administration Training Institute here.
Posts, Telecommunication and Information Technology Affairs Adviser Md Nahid Islam also addressed the meeting.
Asif Nazrul said a new law will replace the existing one and its basic approach will be protecting the citizens.
“We have already taken steps to withdraw the cases filed under the existing cyber security law,” he added.
Nahid Islam said, the CSA was used as a political weapon by the previous government. In fact, the act was made for misusing power, he said.
“The existing law vastly criticized by the people and it’s very unfortunate for us to file case under the law amid the changed situation,” he said.
Nahid advocated for complete repeal of the existing law and make new one as any amended version of the law is not sufficient to stamp out confusion in public mind.
TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Dhaka University Law Department Prof Dr Mohammad Nazmuzzaman Bhuiyan, former District and Sessions Judge Iktedar Ahmed, senior lawyer Barrister Sara Hossain, senior journalist Riaz Ahmed, journalists leader Kader Gani Chowdhury, writer Dr Jahed Ur Rahman, one of the victims of CSA Khadizatul Kobra,
Barrister Shazeb Mahmood, Yale Law School fellow Dr Salwa Hoque, Supreme Court lawyers Shishir Monir, Abdullah Al Noman, Mostafizur Rahman Khan and Barrister Tanim Hossain, writer Sayed Abdullah and anti-discrimination movement coordinator Md Tariqul Islam, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Most of the speakers suggested for repealing the existing CSA and replace it with new one.
there is ample evidence that the law has been abused to harass people unnecessarily, with the majority of cases filed under it hanging unresolved for long. According to the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), at least 1,109 cases were filed between October 2018 and August 2022 – in which a total of 2,889 individuals were accused.
What happened to these cases? The CGS study has found that only two percent of the accused saw their cases come to a close, with the court handing either a conviction, an acquittal or the dismissal of the case. And the rest have been suffering through prolonged investigation and trial processes.
