Sikdar, editor of Uttoradhikar 71
News, was sent to jail in a case for allegedly “tarnishing the image” of LGRD
Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain. A court on Tuesday has allowed police to
hold him a further three days for questioning.
The case arises out of a Facebook
post made by Sikdar in which he claimed three individuals, including the
minister, had threatened his life over some of his investigations.
We have commented before on how the
draconian nature of the ICT law enacted first by the BNP in 2006 and amended by
the AL government in 2013, can be misused as a tool to clamp down on freedom of
expression. The jailing of Sikdar over the disputed contents of a social media
posting, is a case in point.
There is no reasonable justification
for him to have been jailed in this matter. This is especially so given that
the police reportedly did not investigate the alleged threats against Sikdar,
before arresting him on a complaint filed by a local AL leader.
Like everyone else, the individuals
accused by Sikdar have the right to dispute the facts and veracity of his
reports in free media and to bring civil actions for defamation.
It is worrisome that draconian
provisions of the ICT law have instead enabled a third party to summarily file
a case and have Sikdar arrested and jailed. This means he now faces a potential
seven-year prison sentence if found guilty in the defamation case brought under
Section 57 of the ICT Act.
This loosely defined provision goes
far beyond the standard national security and cyber-crime parameters found in
analogous ICT laws in other countries. Its existence puts citizens at risk of a
prison sentence if found guilty of defamation.
It means any newspaper or other
media which publishes reports that can potentially be described as false, runs
the risk of facing similar charges and imprisonment. The chilling effect on
free debate and free media of such laws is self-evident.
We hope the courts will release
Sikdar at the first available opportunity.
The government should support calls
to release Sikdar and take steps to amend the ICT Act so that it can no longer
be misused by influential persons to suppress legitimate journalistic inquiry
and free expression.
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