UNB, Dhaka :
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry on Monday submitted its scrutiny report on the much-talked-about ‘The Digital Security Bill, 2018’ in Parliament. Chairman of the parliamentary watchdog Imran Ahmed placed the report in the House.
The Bill was placed in the House on April 9aiming to deal with cyber crimes, including hurting the religious sentiment, negative propaganda against the Liberation War and Bangabandhu, and illegal activities in e-transactions and spreading defamatory data. The JS body proposed inclusion of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 in the bill where any offence will be committed under the law using computer, digital device, computer network, digital network or any other digital means. The punishment for this offence will be not more than 14 years of imprisonment or not more than Tk 25 lakh as fine or both. If a person commits the same offence for more than once, the punishment will be lifetime imprisonment or not more than Tk 1 crore fine or both. In the report, the committee suggested inclusion of the definition of “spirit of Liberation War” under section 21.
The definition of the spirit of the Liberation War as proposed by the committee is:
“The high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism, which inspired our heroic people to dedicate themselves to, and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the national liberation struggle.” It also proposed inclusion of the Right to Information Act (RTI) under section 3 in case of right to information-related matter.
The parliamentary watchdog kept the section 43 that says a police official can search or arrest anyone without any warrant issued by a court and police would carry out the job following the proposed security council’s director general’s approval. The committee, however, reduced the jail term to 10 years from 14 years for spreading negative propaganda against the Liberation War or Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman using digital devices. The fine for this kind of offence remains the same at Tk 1 crore. Earlier, the proposed law made many crimes cognisable and nonbailable offences. In the proposed bill, digital, database and critical information infrastructure have been defined. As per the bill, digital forensic labs, and a digital security agency under the Prime Minister’s Office will be set up, while a national computer emergency response team and an 11-member digital security council, headed by the Prime Minister, will be constituted. If any person commits the offence for second time or more, the punishment will be lifetime imprisonment or fine Tk 3 crore or both.
The punishment for illegal access to critical information infrastructure (CII) is maximum seven-year of imprisonment or Tk 25 lakh fine or both, while that for damaging the CII through illegal access is maximum 14 years’ imprisonment, or Tk 1 crore fine or both.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry on Monday submitted its scrutiny report on the much-talked-about ‘The Digital Security Bill, 2018’ in Parliament. Chairman of the parliamentary watchdog Imran Ahmed placed the report in the House.
The Bill was placed in the House on April 9aiming to deal with cyber crimes, including hurting the religious sentiment, negative propaganda against the Liberation War and Bangabandhu, and illegal activities in e-transactions and spreading defamatory data. The JS body proposed inclusion of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 in the bill where any offence will be committed under the law using computer, digital device, computer network, digital network or any other digital means. The punishment for this offence will be not more than 14 years of imprisonment or not more than Tk 25 lakh as fine or both. If a person commits the same offence for more than once, the punishment will be lifetime imprisonment or not more than Tk 1 crore fine or both. In the report, the committee suggested inclusion of the definition of “spirit of Liberation War” under section 21.
The definition of the spirit of the Liberation War as proposed by the committee is:
“The high ideals of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism, which inspired our heroic people to dedicate themselves to, and our brave martyrs to sacrifice their lives in the national liberation struggle.” It also proposed inclusion of the Right to Information Act (RTI) under section 3 in case of right to information-related matter.
The parliamentary watchdog kept the section 43 that says a police official can search or arrest anyone without any warrant issued by a court and police would carry out the job following the proposed security council’s director general’s approval. The committee, however, reduced the jail term to 10 years from 14 years for spreading negative propaganda against the Liberation War or Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman using digital devices. The fine for this kind of offence remains the same at Tk 1 crore. Earlier, the proposed law made many crimes cognisable and nonbailable offences. In the proposed bill, digital, database and critical information infrastructure have been defined. As per the bill, digital forensic labs, and a digital security agency under the Prime Minister’s Office will be set up, while a national computer emergency response team and an 11-member digital security council, headed by the Prime Minister, will be constituted. If any person commits the offence for second time or more, the punishment will be lifetime imprisonment or fine Tk 3 crore or both.
The punishment for illegal access to critical information infrastructure (CII) is maximum seven-year of imprisonment or Tk 25 lakh fine or both, while that for damaging the CII through illegal access is maximum 14 years’ imprisonment, or Tk 1 crore fine or both.
