Time to review the DSA
No law should be iniquitous
The Digital Security Act, 2018 has proved to be even more contentious than the controversial Section 57 of the ICT Act, 2006 (as amended in 2013) it purportedly replaced, it being more draconian, illiberal, harsh and, more dangerously, a more randomly applied law. That such a law would not only be tolerated, let alone enacted, by the ruling party, with long credentials of struggle for freedom of speech and dissent, is unfathomable.
Concerns have once again been raised, justifiably so, by the international rights watchdogs, including Amnesty International, who have echoed the fears and reiterated the demands of the majority of the people of the country—revoke the law or incorporate wide ranging comprehensive changes in it. The law, as it is today, stands as an odious testimony of the ruling party's blatant disregard for the basic rights of the people. Sadly, it has been weaponised to stifle dissent. And even more dangerously, it has been applied against the media in the harshest manner for reporting facts. Reportedly, in the last year only, 75 journalists have been arrested/tried under this law. And in the four months between January and May this year, the Cyber Tribunal has received 199 cases under this Act. The most detestable aspect of the law is that defamation has been made a criminal offence, which allows little respite from immediate arrest or bail. And even more conflictive with the dreams of the founding fathers is the way the law has been used to silence the critics of the administration and those close to the corridors of power, as the cases of Ahmed Kabir Kishore and Mushtaq Ahmed expose.
No one can take issue with the need for ensuring cyber security. It is a matter of national security—we all agree. But too often, national security has been exploited to provide the administration with security against criticism, disapproval and reproach. The gross difference between the government and the state has been blurred to the extent that the two have become synonymous. It should not be lost upon the rulers that "in democracy, dissent is an act of faith" and to remain silent when one must express dissent is an unpatriotic act.