The Editor’s Council has decided to stage a human chain demonstration in front of Jatiya Press Club demanding reform of the recently-passed Digital Security Act.
In a media briefing on Saturday (Oct 13), Shyamal Dutta, the editor of Daily Bhorer Kagoj, said that the demonstration will be held Monday (Oct 15).
“We deeply regret the approval of Digital Security Act, which will muzzle the freedom of speech and the media guaranteed by the Constitution,” he told the media.
Dutta said that three ministers and the prime minister’s media advisor himself went back on their promise to present the council’s concerns in front of the cabinet.
“We still respected the Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu’s request to postpone the human chain scheduled for Sept 29, despite the fact that the Act was given approval with blatant disregard to our reservations,” he said.
The council also voiced a six-point demand which called for reformations of provisions--8, 21, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 43 and 53 of the Act and said they want it to be presented before the parliament’s last session.
The demands of the Editor’s Council are-
The police or any other law enforcers should only be allowed to defer specific content if they raid a media house but not given permission to shut down the servers.
The police must provide the editor of the media house with valid reason before freezing any materials from being published.
The police must have a warrant from the High Court before seizing the computers of a media house.
Media professionals cannot be detained or arrested without a warrant. They must be subpoenaed if there is any allegation of journalism-related offences against them.
In case of any alleged offences committed by newsmen, a preliminary probe should be conducted to assess whether it has any merit for a case to be filed.
Before starting a case against any media professional, the press council should be allowed to conduct a preliminary probe if any allegations of offence arise against them.
The Right to Information (RTI) act, enacted by this administration should be given priority over the Digital Security Act to protect the civilians’ freedom and rights.
Editor of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam, Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman, Kaler Kantho Editor Imdadul Haq Milan, Dhaka Tribune Editor Zafar Sobhan were present at the media call among others.