High Court asks government why Section 57 of ICT Act does not violate Constitution

The High Court has asked the government why Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology Act would not declared to be in contravention of the Constitution.

Following preliminary hearing of a petition, justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Md Ashraful Kamal gave the ruling on Tuesday.

Jyotirmay Barua, the petitioners’ lawyer, said the defendants, including the law secretary, ICT secretary and home secretary, were given four weeks to answer the court.

Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Saju represented the state at the hearing.

The petition was filed by 11 including university teachers and writers on Aug 30.

Meanwhile, Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo have ended hearing another petition challenging legality of the section. The bench is set to give its verdict on it on Wednesday.

The ICT Act was passed in 2006 but it was 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.

Rights groups have been vocal against the provision 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 an ‘abuse’ of Section 57.