The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has decided in-principle to repeal the controversial Cyber Security Act.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the advisory council at the chief adviser’s office in the capital’s Tejgaon area on Thursday.
Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Affairs Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan confirmed the matter.
Advisers of the interim government had been discussing the repeal or amendment of this law for some time.
On October 3, at an event in Dhaka, Legal Adviser Asif Nazrul said that the Cyber Security Act should definitely be repealed.
The act was enacted last year to replace the controversial digital security act.
However, the Cyber Security Act has faced criticism from various quarters, including journalists, and sparked widespread debate and opposition. Now, the interim government has made the decision in principle to repeal it.
The interim government has already decided to withdraw cases related to "speech offenses" filed under the cyber security act.
Furthermore, anyone currently in jail due to these cases will be released immediately through legal processes.
In a press release on September 30, the Ministry of Law had said that under the ICT Act of 2006, the digital security act of 2018, and the cyber security act of 2023, a total of 5,818 cases were ongoing in the country's 8 Cyber Tribunals until August. Of these, 1,340 cases are related to speech offenses, with 461 under investigation by law enforcement agencies.
A total of 879 cases are currently pending in the Cyber Tribunals.
These cases were categorized into two types: "Speech Offenses" related to the publication of opinions and "Computer Offenses" involving hacking or other forms of digital fraud. Of the speech offense cases, 279 are under the ICT Act, 786 under the Digital Security Act, and 275 under the Cyber Security Act.
The release further mentioned that the current government has decided to expedite the withdrawal of speech offense-related cases.
Of the 1,340 speech offense cases, 879 pending cases will be withdrawn through coordination between the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Investigation officers will be instructed to expedite the resolution of the 461 cases under investigation by submitting final reports.