The cabinet on Monday approved in principle the Cyber Security Bill to replace the Digital Security Act 2018 in the face of widespread protests and criticism in home and abroad against the 2018 act for its abuse.

The law minister, Anisul Huq, however, said that the new law would retain almost all of the provisions stipulated in the 2018 act with some changes.

The information and communication technology division placed the Cyber Security Bill 2023 in the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office at Tejgaon.

‘The cabinet chaired by Sheikh Hasina has approved in principle the draft Cyber Security Act initiated by the government in view of the digital progress and sent it to the legislative division for vetting,’ the law minister told reporters at the ministry.

He said that all the provisions but sections 33 and 57 of the Digital Security Act were incorporated in the bill with some changes to contain cybercrimes as well to check misuse of the law.

He iterated that there were abuses and misuse of the DSA and journalists in particular had concerns about the law.

‘Concerns about the DSA have been addressed in the bill as the jail term in defamation cases has been scrapped in the bill while several non-bailable offences have been made bailable,’ said Anisul, also a lawyer.

No accused of defamation would be arrested immediately after the filing of the case under the proposed Cyber Security Act as the jail term would be scrapped, he added.

The cyber space is wide and to correctly evaluate the digital progress, the new proposed has been titled as the Cyber Security Act, said the minister.

The bill dropped the provision of jail term for defamation charge and incorporated a provision of fine up to Tk 25 lakh.

If someone fails to pay the fine, there can be a jail sentence of three to six months, said the law minister, adding that provisions of doubling punishments for repeating offenses were dropped.

The bill also reduced the punishment for propaganda or campaign against the War of Independence, the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the national anthem, or the national flag from 10 years to 7 years, said Anisul.

He said that the bill retained the maximum 14 years of jail and Tk 1 crore in fine for hacking.

‘The Digital Security Agency will now be renamed as Cyber Security Agency under the new law,’ cabinet secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said at a briefing.

He said that the DSA was more focused on jail terms, which had been lowered in the bill and fines were increased.

‘The new law has been drafted keeping in view the changing trend of the cybercrimes, not under pressure from any quarters,’ the cabinet secretary said.

He said that the bill would not be made public at this stage.The law minister earlier on June 5 told parliament that 7,001 DSA cases were pending with courts as of January 31, 2023.

The Amnesty International in a statement welcomed the decision to  repeal the DSA terming it as a draconian law. The government must ensure that the Cyber Security Act replacing DSA does not rehash the same repressive features of the DSA, said the rights watchdog.

‘The DSA was weaponised by the ruling party and its affiliates to stifle dissent and thwart freedom of expression online,’ said the Amnesty International.

‘The government must also ensure that all stakeholders have sufficient opportunity to scrutinise and make recommendations on the proposed new law before it is enacted, and that its provisions fully comply with international human rights law,’  it added.

In a statement, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman welcomed the government move, but also expressed caution that the proposed Cyber Security Act must not become another repressive act like the DSA.

Iftekharuzzaman also asked the government to ensure that the Cyber Security Act would not become a tool to suppress freedom of expression and freedom of the media.

The Rastra Sanskar Andolan in a statement expressed fear that the government was plotting to formulate another repressive act renaming it as Cyber Security Act.

Law minister Anisul, however, said that he hoped new law would not create controversies.Asked about the fate of the DSA cases, attorney general AM Amin Uddin said that the cases which were filed earlier under the Digital Security Act would continue.

The The Digital Security Act was enacted in the parliament on September 19, 2018, and it came into effect on October 8, 2018.Human rights organisations termed it ‘draconian’ which was used repeatedly to stifle dissent and criticism of the government.

Politicians, journalists, activists and even students were mostly prosecuted under the DSA.