B’desh proposes life term for defaming 1971 War, ‘Bangabandhu’

From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, Aug 22 (PTI) Bangladesh’s Cabinet today approved adraft law with a provision of life imprisonment and Tk 1 crorecompensation for defaming the 1971 Liberation War againstPakistan and the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. "The proposed law suggests that if anybody conductspropaganda against the War of Liberation and its spirit,Father of the Nation ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman orthe Liberation War issues, which are resolved by the court,through electronic media, he or she will suffer maximum lifeimprisonment and the minimum three-year imprisonment and thehighest Taka 1 crore (about USD 1.27 lakh) fine or both thepunishment," Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam told reporters. Coming out of the Cabinet meeting, Alam said the proposedDigital Security Act-2016 prescribed punitive action of14-year imprisonment for attacking or hacking into importantinformation infrastructure like state-run airline BimanAirline’s Cyber Management, using digital devices. Officials earlier said the proposed law sought to replacesections of the existing Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT) (Amendment) Act, 2013 – meant to deal withcybercrimes that could cause financial and administrativedamage to the country. They said the draft law would not replace the ICT Act butscrap provisions which were incorporated in the new proposal. The new law has been proposed while Bangladesh already hasInformation and Communication Technology (ICT) Act-2006 ineffect and it recently drafted Liberation War Crimes DenialAct-2016 to check distortion and denial of establishedhistorical facts related to the 1971 war against Pakistan. The 1971 war was a revolution and armed conflict sparkedby the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determinationmovement in then-East Pakistan. It resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. PTI ARABH