Conclusions

Since its introduction in 2018, the Digital Security Act has been widely used by government agencies and individuals in Bangladesh. Although the government claimed that it will provide security to the citizens, the law was framed in a manner that it could be utilized to silence the critics and criminalize dissent. Data gathered and analyzed in this report covers 26 months between January 2020 and February 2022 and showed that the law has been weaponized and citizens of various strata of the Bangladeshi society have become victims of the wanton use of the law. Data presented in this report have demonstrated that journalists and politicians disproportionately became victims of this law and the younger population has been subjected to the rampant abuse of the law. The overwhelming number of accusers of cases filed under the law are members of the ruling party and its supporters, although they are not the aggrieved party to these alleged wrongdoings.

The vagueness of various provisions of the law has created a situation of vigilante justice. Often fabricated allegations have been used for verbal lynching and social ostracization. This law has made commenting in social media, particularly on Facebook, perilous and commenting on government officials has landed people in court and in jail. The law’s provision has allowed and continues to allow incarceration of people for indefinite periods even before being charge sheeted, let alone convicted. Although the government has lately started to acknowledge ‘some abuse’, the data presented here convincingly argues that it has been widespread. The law undermines the country’s commitment to international law and norms of fundamental rights and contravenes the human rights provided in the Constitution. It has created a situation of unending nightmare for the citizens. Under such circumstances, it is imperative that the law be repealed, those who have been detained be released and those who have been subjected to persecution receive reparations.