Silence unregistered SIMs: HC

The High Court has ordered the immediate deactivation of all unregistered mobile SIM cards.

Justices Mirza Hussain Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar gave the order on Tuesday after a preliminary hearing on a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer JR Khan Robin.

Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the home secretary, posts and telecommunication secretary and chief executive officers (CEOs) of mobile phone operators Grameenphone, Banglalink, Teletalk, Airtel, Robi and Citycell have been asked to implement the order without delay.

Barrister Badruddoza Badal and Barrister Mirza Al Mahmud argued for the petitioner at the hearing while Deputy Attorney General Al Amin Sarker stood for the state.

The court also said the owner of a SIM card must be informed in case of a complaint.

The BTRC, its chairman, the home secretary, and the posts and telecommunication secretary have been asked to explain why the sale of unregistered mobile SIM cards through dealers or otherwise should not be stopped.

The court also asked why the CEOs of mobile phone operators Grameenphone, Banglalink, Teletalk, Airtel, Robi and Citycell should not be held responsible for the sale of unregistered SIM cards.

The High Court also asked the concerned respondents to explain why the law enforcing agencies should not be directed to take actions against the owners of unregistered mobile SIM cards as per the criminal case procedures.

The respondents have been asked to reply within four weeks.

Robin submitted the petition, attaching with it a report published on March 6 in the Bangla national daily ‘Janakantha’ with its headline ‘7 million unregistered mobile SIM cards traced’.

The report says there are currently some 110 million mobile phone subscribers in the country. But over seven million SIM cards are unregistered.

As per law, no mobile phone operator can sell SIM cards without registering them.

The petition said that unregistered mobile SIM cards were being sold by mobile top-up vendors (flexi load) all over the country. The government, as a result, was losing a large amount of revenue.

On the other hand, it becomes difficult for the law enforcing agencies to track down criminals as they almost invariably use unregistered SIM cards.

The report said hardened criminals use unauthorised SIM cards to demand extortion money and issue death threats.

Businessmen, contractors and wealthy people are their main targets, the report says.

Each criminal or terrorist keeps hundreds of unregistered SIM cards. Each SIM card is destroyed after a single use.

At present, pre-active SIM cards are available in the market, enabling people to of use cell phones without providing their real or any identity at all.

The BTRC has recently initiated moves to check cell phone-based crimes by banning the sale of pre-activated SIM cards.

The telecom regulator has asked mobile operators to withhold SIM card activation for 72 hours and verify the buyers’ information during that time.