While the rebranding of the Digital Security Act (DSA) to the Cyber Security Act (CSA) last year had, in itself, proven to be a rather controversial move as it had done little to nothing to address the criticisms which had been levied against the DSA, the High Court’s recent recommendation of a non-bailable clause for hurting religious sentiments in CSA would see further freedom of speech erode even further in Bangladesh were it to be adopted.
According to news reports, the High Court has deemed it necessary for the government to enact a law making it a non-bailable offense to insult or blaspheme the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and all other religious scriptures and avatars. Not only would the offense be non-bailable but any arrests would result in the maximum punishment of death or life imprisonment.
We cannot overstate just how dangerous a precedent it would set were this recommendation be taken into cognizance.
While it is understandable that the reasoning behind such a recommendation may be well intentioned, we believe that such legal provisions may end up being weaponized against speech which can merely be interpreted as an attack against any given religion. But that is almost besides the point given that such a law would go directly against freedom of speech, as it is enshrined by our very Constitution.
The DSA, now the CSA, has been highlighted in the past for its numerous Draconian provisions which get in the way of press freedom and indeed freedom of expression in general. For the High Court to further twist these laws in such a way that it would make certain offenses non-bailable would set an even further dangerous precedent.
We hope that, ultimately, reason would prevail as such legal recommendations would absolutely set our nation back even further.
