THIS is alarming that the tendency to muzzle any voice critical of the government is repeated by the political groups that have been vocal against legal harassment of dissenting voice and political opposition during the tenure of the toppled Awami League regime. A case was filed on September 24 under repressive clauses of the Cyber Security Act against a man for allegedly disrespecting the Qur鈥檃n and defaming the chief adviser and the information adviser to the interim government. The court accepted the case and ordered the submission of the investigation report by November 27. The plaintiff is a local leader of the Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal, the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It is widely reported how the Awami League regime filed politically motivated cases and abused the Digital Security Act 2018 to legally harass the opposition and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp, bore the brunt of it. Following into the footsteps of the Awami League, a case filed for criticising the interim government is concerning because it endorses the repressive tendency to curtail the freedom of expression, and that too, under the law that it vehemently opposed.
The use of the Cyber Security Act not only legitimises a repressive law but also sends out a message to the public that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party may continue to use the law if it is voted to power. Political parties that are close to the power corridor should know that such political duplicity is a betrayal to the spirit of the July-August uprising. The chief adviser鈥檚 office should look into the defamation case and initiate a conflict resolution process so that the legacy of legal harassment is not reintroduced when possibilities of democratic reforms are on the platter. It should expeditiously consider the demand for repealing the Cyber Security Act and address legal provisions that muzzle critiques. After the Awami League鈥檚 downfall, the Editors鈥� Council on August 12 asked the government to repeal the law so that its abuses could be stopped. In the face of criticism at home and abroad, the Awami League government replaced the Digital Security Act with the Cyber Security Act, which contained vague, prejudiced terms and figures such as propaganda against the spirit of the liberation war, the national anthem, the national flag and hurting religious sentiment that are vulnerable to partisan and motivated interpretation. The recent defamation case is filed taking the advantage of such legal ambiguity, suggesting that the government should take up the continued motivated use of the legal system seriously.
The interim government should, therefore, consider repealing the Cyber Security Act to stop similar abuses in future. All political parties that took part in the uprising to restore the freedom of expression should abandon the tendency to abuse laws to harass opponents.
