Over 7,000 cases under DSA: Law minister

A total of 7,001 cases were filed under the Digital Security Act across the country as of January 31 this year, Law Minister Anisul Haq told parliament today.

The minister said this in reply to a query from Gonoforum MP Mukabbir Khan of Sylhet-2 constituency.

The much-debated Digital Security Bill 2018 was passed in parliament in September, 2018 ignoring concern of journalists, owners of media houses and rights activists over some of its sections.

Journalists and rights activists said the act goes against the main spirit of the constitution and will restrict free-thinking, freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It will also impede independent journalism.

In his question, Mukabbir Khan wanted to know the number of cases and how many people were arrested so far under the Digital Security Act.

In response, the law minister said, the Ministry of Home Affairs' public security division is concerned with the question of how many people have been arrested so far under the Digital Security Act. Therefore, this part of the question has been transferred to the department of Public Security division of the home ministry as per the rules of the Secretariat.

In response to another query by Awami League MP Abul Kalam Azad, the law minister said that currently 36.70 lakh cases are pending in the trail courts till March 31 of this year.

Among them, the number of civil cases is 15.84 lakh and criminal cases is 20.86 lakh.

The minister said that among the country's 64 districts, maximum 5.44 lakh cases are ongoing in Dhaka and the second highest 2.71 lakh cases are ongoing in Chattogram.

In response to a query from AL MP Morshed Alam from Noakhali-2, the law minister said that the present government is working tirelessly to establish a modern judiciary to alleviate the suffering of the people seeking justice.

"If the steps taken by the government are implemented, the number of pending cases across the country will come down to a tolerable level and there will be effective and visible improvement in the speedy disposal of cases," he added.