Cyber Security Bill: Changes will merely be in wording

A few changes are going to be made in the much talked about Cyber Security Bill-2023, but those will mainly be in wording.

Besides, a clause which covers offences that are punishable under the Official Secrets Act will be dropped from the proposed law.

The decisions were made yesterday in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the posts, telecommunications and information technology ministry.

Some journalist leaders attended the meeting on special invitation from the parliamentary watchdog.

A major concern of journalists was the bill's clause-42 that allows law enforcers to frisk and arrest people without warrants. Journalists had been demanding omission of the clause, but the committee decided only to bring one change in the clause.

As per the committee's decision, a change will be made to clause-42 to give the power to frisk and arrest people without a warrant to a police inspector instead of a sub-inspector.

Once passed, the proposed Cyber Security Act will replace the controversial Digital Security Act-2018.

The bill was placed in Jatiya Sangsad on Tuesday by State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak.

Later, the bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of posts, telecommunications and information technology for scrutiny. The committee was asked to submit its report before the House within five workings days.

Yesterday, journalists were not fully satisfied with the JS body's decisions.

Meeting sources said wording will be changed in clause-21 of the bill which cites offences relating to conducting any "propaganda and publicity" against the Liberation War, spirit of the Liberation War, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the national anthem and the national flag.

The committee decided that the words "propaganda and publicity" will be replaced with "publicity with intent to malice, defame, and confuse", they said.

Also, the clause-32 of the bill will be dropped. The clause stipulates that offenders will be punished for committing offences, punishable under the Official Secrets Act, in the digital medium.

After the meeting, Law Minister Anisul Huq told reporters that they have brought several changes to the bill.

"We have accepted a recommendation from the BFUJ regarding the clause-21. We have omitted clause-32 which incorporated the Official Secrets Act," he said.

Journalist leader Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul told reporters that they were not satisfied with the change to clause-42 as they stressed the role of the Bangladesh Press Council in this regard.

Jatiya Press Club General Secretary Shyamal Dutta said a few changes will be made to some clauses, including clauses-21 and 42. He said the amended bill will be made available online in a day or two.

At the meeting, a faction of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) placed a 14-point demand.

The president of the BFUJ faction, M Abdullah, said the parliamentary watchdog accepted some of their demands but they were not satisfied with it.

He said they told the committee that they will accept the bill only if all those clauses which create obstacles to freedom of the press are dropped.

The meeting was chaired by standing committee member Rejwan Ahammad Taufiq.

Law Minister Anisul Huq and Post and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar attended the meeting on special invitation from the committee president.