The people’s right to free media and freedom of expression requires that the draconian aspects of this legislation should be repealed
The granting of a two day remand for a reporter from the Inqilab and the sending of two fellow journalists to jail for producing a “fabricated” news report appears disproportionate to the alleged offence.
By shutting down the newspaper involved in addition to bringing this case, the government’s actions smack of overreaction and needlessly curb freedom of expression.
The government has made clear that it regards the internet rumours to which Inquilab’s report referred as baseless and fabricated. Moreover the Inquilab has issued an apology for the way in which its report was presented. This should be sufficient to enable most people to make up their own minds, but instead attention is now drawn to the government’s actions rather than the paper’s apparent error.
Any newspaper can make mistakes or errors of judgement that lead to facts and reports being disputed. For journalists to be held in jail over what in essence is a disputed report is not acceptable.
It is unfortunate that the ICT law enacted first by BNP in 2006, and amended by AL in 2013, contains the draconian provisions which enabled the bringing of this case in the first place. The people’s right to free media and freedom of expression requires that the draconian aspects of this legislation should be repealed as matter of priority.
This would be a better use of the government’s time than reports that the information ministry is looking at new ways for the government to monitor private media firms, including TV stations and online media.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
