Dhaka Bureau: The Cyber Security Bill 2023 is going to be passed in Parliament today. State Minister for Information Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak will present it for passage as the second bill in the Parliament session, which will begin on Wednesday (September 13) afternoon. Earlier, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology presented the final report of the Cyber Security Bill to the Parliament on Sunday.
Parliamentary committee member Rezwan Ahmed Tawfiq presented the report on behalf of the committee last Sunday. In the bill, several changes have been made in sections 42 and 21, including the deletion of section 32. Section 34 of the bill has brought some wording changes and provisions for punishment for false cases. Here the Committee clearly stated, (1) If any person files or makes a suit or complaint against any other person with intent to injure another person without showing any just or lawful cause for filing a suit or complaint under any other section of this Act, it shall be a crime and treason.
The person filing the suit or complaint and the person who filed the complaint shall be punished with the penalty prescribed for the original offense. If a person files a suit or complaint under sub-section (1) under more than one section of this Act, the amount of the penalty for the main offense, which is higher for the offense mentioned in the said section, may be determined. (3) The Tribunal may, on the basis of a written complaint by any person, receive a complaint of an offense committed under sub-section (1) and try the case. Before this, last Thursday (September 7), the committee discussed with the leaders of some journalist organizations and finalized the recommendations by bringing several amendments, including repealing Article 32.
The Cyber Security Act repeals the controversial Digital Security Act. The Cyber Security Bill was tabled in Parliament last Tuesday (September 5). The bill was then sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology for examination and report. Besides, it has been decided to change the wording in Section 21 of the bill. Crimes related to any kind of propaganda and propaganda against the Liberation War, the spirit of the Liberation War, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the National Anthem, or the National Flag are mentioned. Here, for “any propaganda against the flag, the words “hatred, confusion, and defamation of the flag” shall be substituted.
It has been decided to cancel Section 32 of the bill. The Official Secrets Act was added to this clause. It was added to provide penalties for offenses under the Official Secrets Act through digital means. Section 42 of the bill gives the police the power to search and arrest without a warrant. It is being amended here that, in this section, instead of the sub-inspector level officer, the police inspector level officer can search and arrest without warrant. Section 8 of the proposed bill is also being amended.
The power to remove and block data from digital media is given in this section. It was earlier said that if law enforcement agencies ‘appear’ that any information published or disseminated through digital or electronic means undermines the unity, economic activity, security, defense, religious values, or public order of the country or any part thereof, or incites ethnic hatred, transmission, the law enforcement agency may request BTRC, through the Director General, to remove or block said data. Here for the words appearing,’subject to analysis of the data, there is reason to believe that’ shall be substituted.
