Legal notice on govt to scrap sections 57, 86 of ICT Act

Lawyer Younus Ali Akhand sent a notice by post to the secretaries of Cabinet Division and ministries of law and information Wednesday. It said that a writ petition would be filed in the High Court if measures to scrap the ICT Act sections were not initiated within 24 hours, reports bdnews24.com.

The ICT Act was passed in 2006 and amended twice in 2009 and 2013.  In the last amendment, offences under the Section 57 were made non-bailable and the maximum penalty was extended to 14-year imprisonment.

Section 57 of the law criminalises 'publishing fake, obscene or defaming information in electronic form.'

Offence under this provision of the ICT Act is punishable by minimum of seven years in prison and maximum of 14 years. Fine can be as high as Tk 10 million. Section 86 provides indemnity to public servants involved in implementing this Act.

Journalist Probir Sikdar was arrested and remanded in a case lodged under the ICT Act on charges of defaming the LGRD and Cooperatives minister through a Facebook post.