Govt to consider lenient punishments for convicts under DSA: Anisul

Law Minister Anisul Huq today said the government will consider lenient punishments for those who will be convicted underthe Digital Security Act.

"As the punishment in the proposed Cyber Security Act has been reduced to a great extent, which is also the aim of the government and parliament, we will definitely look into the matter to ensure that this [reduced punishment] is implemented," he said while talking to reporters after coming out of a meeting with UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis at his secretariat office.

The minister said courts can sentence the accused under the existing DSA, but the government will look into the matter of cases filed under the DSA.

"Digital Security Act has not been amended or we even cannot say that it has been abolished completely. The changes that we have brought in the proposed act are so many that if we have not changed the name of Digital Security Act, we would had to name it Digital Security Amended Act, which would have been confusing. So, we opted for Cyber Security Act. We brought the word 'cyber' to increase its extent," Anisul said while replying to a question about the necessity of renaming DSA as CSA.

The minister said the proposed law has a provision for a two-year prison term instead five years as per DSA's section 28, which was related to hurting one's religious sentiment through publication or broadcast of information in website or in any electronic format.

The cabinet yesterday approved in principle the draft of the proposed act, which seeks to drop some stringent provisions like jail terms on defamation charges.

Convicts under the proposed Cyber Security Act would have to pay fines only instead of serving jail terms for defamation. The law minister termed it a "significant change".