The High Court has issued a rule asking the government why its inaction to remove ‘immoral and reprehensible’ video content from the country’s streaming platforms should not be declared illegal.
The rule also asked the authorities concerned why the High Court should not issue directives to amend regulation for monitoring the web contents.
The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam issued the rule on Tuesday.
Advocate Tanvir Ahmed, accompanied by Abdullah Abu Syed and Ashif parvez, stood for the writ.
Tanvir said a virtual court on July 15 directed the concerned authority to remove all the ‘objectionable’ video contents from the web, but the virtual court had no authority to issue such a rule. That is why the virtual court ordered the petitioner to file the writ again with a regular bench.
As per the court order, authorities concerned have to remove all immoral and reprehensible video content within 15 days of receiving the order.
The High Court also directed the inspector general of police to submit a report within four weeks on the actions taken against the people who created such contents, added Tanvir.
According to the writ, several video streaming services operating in the country are streaming inappropriate content, which is causing a deterioration in the moral values of the younger generation.
A total of eight individuals were made respondents for the writ including secretaries from the Post and Telecommunications Division, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and Ministry of Information, as well as the chairman of BTRC, and the inspector general of police.
Earlier, the lawyer sent a legal notice to the concerned government offices seeking removal of such content from all the streaming services of the country.
He later filed a writ with the High Court as no response or reply came forth from the recipients of the legal notice.