The court-ordered jailing of Sharmin Akter Nipa is yet another example of how the Digital Security Act is being used in absolute contradiction of its supposed usage.
According to reports, Mrs Akter is to be sent to jail in a case filed under DSA for allegedly tarnishing the image of the Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) by posting on social media about GMP accepting bribes.
Even setting aside the fact that the police being accused of bribery is an incredibly common phenomenon in our country, for the GMP to have to resort invoking the DSA just to detain a citizen is absolutely a heavy-handed response to what barely passes as a minor infraction.
However, two separate cases had been filed against Mrs Akter and her husband Rakib Sarker, a ruling party representative, on charges of land grabbing and tarnishing the image of the police.
Land grabbing is indeed an incredibly serious offense and one that is not unprecedented when it comes to people associated with political organizations, but the fact that it took a social media post accusing the GMP of unlawful behaviour which ultimately resulted in their detention gives us pause.
Indeed, the DSA is overwhelmingly abused -- with innocent civilians and journalists being prosecuted under the law, by now it should be abundantly clear that the draconian law harms more people than it actually protects.
But this case also represents the shambolic state of our laws regarding defamation, which is more often than not treated as a criminal offense instead of a civil wrong, despite international legal standards being very clear that imprisonment is an incredibly disproportionate action for defamation cases.
If the allegations of land grabbing and vandalism hold water then the accused should absolutely be punished appropriately. However, short of inciting violence, a social media post should never be used to imprison a citizen.