High Court rejects petition to scrap Sections 57 and 86 of ICT Act

The High Court has turned down a petition, which sought to revoke Sections 57 and 86 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act.

The bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman rejected the plea filed by lawyer Younus Ali Akhand on Sunday. 
 
Meanwhile, the bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo has started hearing another petition challenging legality of the Act’s Section 57. The hearings will resume on Monday.
 
On Aug 26, lawyer Akhand sent a legal notice to the government to scrap the ICT Act sections. He filed the petition with the High Court the next day. 
 
Akhand represented himself during Sunday’s hearing while Deputy Attorney General Tapash Kumar Biswas argued for the state.
 
“The government is taking measures on the matter. The court rejected the plea as it was immature,” Biswas told bdnews24.com.

The other petition, challenging the legality of Section 57, was filed by a resident of Dhaka’s Mirpur.

The court adjourned the hearing until Monday.

“Time was sought as the attorney general will argue for the state and the court set Monday for hearing,” Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder, who argued on Sunday, told bdnews24.com.

The petition sought a rule on why Section 57 would not be declared unconstitutional.

“Section 57 contradicts with Constitution’s Articles 27, 31, 32 and 39,” said petitioner’s lawyer Shishir Monir.

The writ petition filed by one Jakir Hossain made the secretaries to the ministries of law and ICT a party.

It also sought a freeze on proceedings of a case against the petitioner under Section 57.

On July 24, Hossain’s wife filed a case accusing him of harassing her through pictures and posts in social media.

He secured a bail from the trial court on Aug 10 and moved the High Court on Aug 26.

The ICT Act was passed in 2006 before being amended twice in 2009 and 2013.

In the last amendment, offences under the Section 57 were made non-bailable and the maximum penalty was extended to 14-year imprisonment.

Section 57 of the law criminalises ‘publishing fake, obscene or defaming information in electronic form.’

Offence under this provision of the ICT Act is punishable by at least seven years in prison and 14 years at the most. Financial penalty can be as high as Tk 10 million.

Section 86 provides indemnity to public servants involved in implementing this Act.

Rights groups have been vocal against these provisions for quite some time now, saying this effectively muzzles the freedom of speech and expression.

The issue once again came to the fore after journalist Probir Sikdar was arrested and remanded in a case lodged under the ICT Act. He has been accused of defaming the LGRD and cooperatives minister through a Facebook post.

Sikdar was released a day after he was remanded in police custody for three days.

Rights activists termed the incident of Sikdar as an ‘abuse’ of Section 57.

The forum of print media editors, the Editors’ Council, has also demanded scrapping of the legal provision.