Implicated under Section 57

While it is good to know that the police have finally submitted the charge-sheet in a case filed against four road safety campaigners in Chattogram last year during the nationwide road safety movement, there remains some confusion regarding the reasons why they were implicated under Section 57 of the ICT Act in the first place. On August 6 last year, after foiling a protest rally organised by a group of young people via social media during the demonstrations for safe roads, the Kotwali police arrested these four youths. Later, police filed a case under Section 57 of the ICT Act against the four, accusing them of provoking students by spreading false information on social media and tarnishing the government's image by sharing anti-government updates and quotes.

While the police said that they implicated the four students under Section 57 as evidence against them was found of posting anti-government status updates on social media platforms and instigating students to create disorder, according to the accused students, the allegations brought against them were totally baseless. One of the students told The Daily Star that the anti-government status updates based on which the police framed charges against them were posted from their Facebook IDs after their arrest. If that is really the case, then the question is: who updated their status on social media after their arrest?  While we think that the numerous cases filed against students during and after the road safety movement should be disposed of quickly, as the cases are hampering their regular educational activities, we also hope that no student will be falsely implicated because this will ruin their future, to say the least.