The cabinet has given the final approval to the draft Cyber Security Act 2023, which will replace the controversial Digital Security Act 2018, making two sections of the existing law bailable.
This approval came during a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tejgaon in the capital on Monday (28 August), reports Prothom Alo, citing Law Minister Anisul Haque.
According to the minister, now all sections of the proposed act, except the one dealing with technical issues, are bailable.
The draft law is now expected to be placed in the Jatiya Sangsad.
One of the sections that’s been made bailable is Section 21 of the DSA dealing with publication or propaganda against the Liberation War, the spirit of the Liberation War, the Father of the Nation, the national anthem or the national flag.
Under the DSA, a person could be imprisoned for a maximum of 10 years and fined up to Tk1 crore for the said crimes.
However, the law minister had previously said the sentence for this crime has been reduced to seven years in the proposed CSA.
The minister couldn’t provide any information immediately regarding the other section that has been made bailable.
The cabinet had initially approved the draft “Cyber Security Act 2023” in principle in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 7 August.
On August 9, the draft of the act was published on the website of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department, seeking the views of stakeholders within 14 days for this. It received around 500 responses.
According to government officials, the proposed law will be replacing the DSA with amendments to some sections of the existing law and the addition of new penalties for hacking-related offences.
However, following the publication of the draft CSA earlier this month, legal experts had said the new law is basically rebranding the DSA without much value addition and isn’t expected to bring much change on the ground
Speaking to The Business Standard after the draft law was approved, Nur Khan Liton, executive director of human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, said, “All the provisions of the old law are kept in the new one, but some changes are made in terms of punishment and bail.”
He also said, “It can be said the same repressive law is kept intact but comes in a new package.”
The DSA was enacted in the year 2018, aimed at replacing the controversial Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, 2006 (as amended in 2013), which was passed during the BNP-Jamaat reign.
