Cases pile up, allegations hardly proved

The number of cases under Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 increased significantly, despite low rate of conviction, after the section was amended in 2013 making it harsher.
According to police headquarters statistics as of June 8,330 cases were filed under Section 57 of the act in four years after the 2013 amendment while the number was 317 in the first seven years since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government enacted the law.
A police headquarters official said that the number of cases might be higher as many cases might have not been reported to the police headquarters.
Political activists, academics, rights activists, journalists and retired military officials, among others, were prosecuted under the act, especially Section 57, by either the police or ruling Awami League activists mostly for posts on Facebook.
Cyber Tribunal public prosecutor Mohammad Nazrul Islam Shamim said the number of cases were on the rise because of widespread use of social media as most of the cyber crime cases were filed for posts on Facebook or other social media.
‘Many of the suspects were arrested either for posting or making comments on Facebook against state dignitaries including prime minister,’ said Nazrul.
Rights defender Nur Khan Liton, however, said that the Section 57 was being widely misused to silence dissent voices and political opponents were targeted in many cases.
The number of cases for trial in the lone Cyber Tribunal under the act is also on the rise.
A tribunal official said that the tribunal, formed in 2013, had three cases for trial in 2013. The number of cases pending with the tribunal rose to 33 in 2014, 152 in 2015 and 233 in 2016.
More than 50 per cent of the cases were related to Facebook posts, public prosecutor Nazrul Islam said, adding that the tribunal had so far disposed of about 200 of the cyber crime cases with only 15 cases resulting in conviction.
Nur Khan said that the low rate of conviction demonstrated that the act, Section 57 in particular, was enacted to harass and silence dissent voices and political opponents.
National Human Rights Commission chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said that they had expressed their concern time and again as there was scope of misuse of the Section 57.
Amnesty International in a report in May termed the act ‘repressive’ saying that it was a principal instrument to silence critical voices.
‘The government has used the draconian law to silence criticism in the media by bringing criminal charges against journalists for simply doing their work,’ the report said.
Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan said that the special law was basically meant for repression on the people.
If there is really any law and order situation, the Penal Code is enough to deal with that, said Adilur, also a Supreme Court lawyer facing prosecution under the law.
Adilur’s case was the first case with the Cyber Tribunal for trial.
The Section 57 prescribes a minimum jail term of seven years or the maximum of 14 years and a maximum fine of Tk 1 crore for broadcasting and posting on the web any information that might promote dishonesty and unscrupulous conduct, causes defamation, undermine the image and reputation of individuals or the state, offends religious sentiments, or provokes or incites individuals or organisations.
Despites protests in home and abroad for scrapping the act, Section 57 in particular, the AL-led government amended the section in 2013 raising the maximum jail term to 14 years from 10 years.
The misuse of the Section57 continued as the government was yet to reply to two rulings the High Court issued in 2010 and 2015 asking it to explain the legality of the section.
A High Court bench of Justice Imman Ali and Justice Obaidul Hassan issued the first ruling on July 26, 2010 asking for the explanation after hearing a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Arafak Hosen Khan.
Petitioner’s counsel Sara Hossain said that the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission replied to the ruling in August 2015, but the government, law ministry and information ministry, was yet to reply.
The other ruling was issued by the bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal on September 1, 2015 after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by 11 teachers and writers.
Petitioners’ lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said that the government was yet to reply to the ruling. In both the cases the government was asked to reply in four weeks.
Amid widespread criticism, law minister Anisul Huq and information minister Hasanul Haq Inu, at several recent functions, said that the government would address the issue in the proposed Cyber Act.
At a function in Dhaka on May 2, the law minister said that the Section 57 would be scrapped.
An official involved in the preparation of the draft bill for cyber security law, however, said that there was no good news as the law enforcing agencies wanted to make the law more stringent.
The number of cases and people arrested under the act, especially Section 57, however, kept rising.
According to police headquarters statistics, 42 cases against 73 people in January, 67 cases against 175 people in February, 71 cases against 140 people in March and 63 cases against 117 people in April were filed under the act.
The statistics showed that the number of people arrested in those cases was 33 in January, 81 in February, 72 in March and 37 in April.
About 90 per cent of the 243 cases between January and April were filed under the Section 57 while one fourth of the cases were filed with different police stations in Dhaka.
In a recent incident, Liberation War historian BRAC University professor Afsan Chowdhury was prosecuted under the Section 57 on June 5 for Facebook comments on retired lieutenant general Masud Uddin Chowdhry’s reported ownership of a restaurant.
On May 9, journalists Hasan Ali and Aslam Ali were taken into custody after their surrender to the Kushtia Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court. They were prosecuted by a reported police informer under Section 57 for a Facebook post.
Hasan Ali conducted several fact-finding missions in Kushtia and published many reports on human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and enforced disappearance.
On December 23, 2016, Nazmul Huda, a print and television journalist, was arrested, viciously beaten in custody and then charged under the act for covering protests by apparel workers outside Dhaka.