The High Court (HC) has taken Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to task for its “failure” to block private images and videos appearing on social media and other online platforms.
The court was hearing on Sunday a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Tasmiah Nuhiya Ahmed who sought orders to remove private photos, videos and reports defaming people, especially women, including student Mosarat Jahan Muniya, doctor Sabrina Sharmin aka Sabrina Arif Chaudhury, and actress Pori Moni.
Deputy Attorney General Nawroz Md Russell Chowdhury questioned the petition, arguing that the petitioner did not serve a legal notice on BTRC before filing the plea, reports bdnews24.com.
The court finally dismissed the petition as “not presented”.
Lawyer Tasmiah said she will send a notice to BTRC first, and then move the court again if the regulator fails to act.
But when Nawroz pointed out that another bench issued orders and rules on a similar matter, Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah asked, “What does BTRC do? Do they need instructions regularly to stop these? Society is degenerating!”
“Online news portals don't follow any guidelines. They don't need permission in many cases. That’s why a rule was issued to make them take permission and follow guidelines,” the deputy attorney general said.
“Does the BTRC preserve these (photos, videos, reports) for future reading? Do they take pleasure? Do they like to see these? Do they enjoy these? Don’t we live with our children? Don’t we have families? Why do these get viral on social media?” the judge asked.
The other judge of the panel, Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah, then said, “They (BTRC) can stop these immediately.”
“What does BTRC do? And you, the lawyers, always come to shoot their gun off our shoulder. You want us to issue directives. But why would we do that? We have already said in the Al Jazeera case that BTRC has all the powers to block these. And you're bringing one writ petition after another,” Justice Mozibor said.
“Let’s order the BTRC chairman to physically appear and then ask him why they're doing it (not blocking the images, videos and reports); what he's doing there. They've the capacity to firmly deal with these, but they don’t. No one cares about these without High Court directives.”
Nawroz said separate orders were not necessary for every incident, but there should be a verdict covering all aspects of the issue.
“No need,” said Justice Mozibur, “The six amici curiae we had called – Kamal-ul-Alam and others – pointed out everything from the law. BTRC is still asleep,” retorted Justice Mozibur.
“BTRC has the powers. We've made specific guidelines for them. Shall we issue instructions every day?” Justice Kamrul said.
