Cyber Crime and Law in Bangladesh

Abujar Gifary

The Internet has become one of the most accessible objects in the 21st century. Adolescents, young people, old people are all living extremely busy days in the net world today. While trying to control technology with ease, some people are unknowingly being controlled by technology. With the touch of technology, the world has become handful today. Which is called Vishwagram (Global Village) in the language of technology.

Vishwagram is a social or cultural system based on information and communication technology where people from all over the world live in a single society. The social system that is formed through the process of globalization is the world village. However, in order to keep pace with the times and join the internet, someone is getting involved in the web of delusion again and again. And so the digital transformation of crime is on the rise. One of which is cyber crime.

Cybercrime is one of the most pressing issues in the media today. Cybercrime in the general sense is a crime related to a mobile phone or computer network. Such as: hacking, leaking information without the permission of the person, violence against women, blackmail, fraud in online shopping, etc. That is to say, a crime committed outside the law for the purpose of causing physical or mental harm to a person or persons with criminal intent by using modern telecommunication networks of internet or mobile phone is called 'cyber crime'. Usually the person who organizes this crime also targets another's mobile or computer.

That is why it is also called 'Computer Oriented Crime'. Various social media such as facebook is becoming the arena of cyber crime in the country. Because it is a cyber crime to write or comment on defamatory, misleading, indecent, obscene, offensive and provocative or upload pictures or videos through facebook or any other social media. Cybercrime has been around since the invention of the computer network. So this is not a new crime for us. Because we are all more or less connected to the internet.

And thanks to the connection to the Internet, we are all aware of the crime. Cyber crime is constantly happening in almost every country of the world including Bangladesh. And millions of people are the victims of this crime. According to the Cyber Crime Awareness Foundation, girls between the ages of 18 to 30 are the most affected by cybercrime. Among the victims, 10.52 percent (10.52%) are under 18 years of age and 73.71 percent (73.71%) are under 18 to 30 years of age. In addition, 12.77 percent (12.77%) of the population between the ages of 30 to 45 are women.

There are two main types of cybercrime. Such as: cyber crime related to individuals and cyber crime related to property. The first is cyber crime involving individuals, including cyber pornography, cyber stalking, cyber defamation, and so on. Cyberstalking refers to, "If a person monitors another person's activity on social media through one or more profiles, it is subject to stocking." On the other hand, property related cyber crimes include online gambling, phishing, copyright infringement, credit card fraud, etc. Phishing is the act of collecting personal information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card information, etc., from someone through fraud.

Other notable cyber crimes include comments that hurt religious feelings online, computer abuse, IP spoofing, computer viruses, uploading intimate videos and pictures on YouTube, creating fake IDs, hacking IDs by guessing passwords, and so on. IP spoofing means 'sending an IP address to another computer using a trusted person's account through a hacker.' Another term associated with cybercrime is cyberbullying. 'Cyber bullying' is defamation of a person through various websites on the internet and through social media.

In other words, cyber bullying is the use of one's personal weakness on a virtual platform to humiliate, intimidate or tempt someone to do something unjust. Bullying also involves distorting a person's picture or video and posting it online. Cyber bullying is not an individual crime but a part of cyber crime. At present, young people, especially girls, are constantly being subjected to cyberbullying. As a result, many young people become mentally deranged and choose the heinous path of suicide.

The government set up a cyber crime suppression tribunal in 2013 to control cyber crime. According to a recent study, 'From 2013 to March this year, a total of 3,324 cases have come to the cyber tribunal for trial from different police stations across the country. Of these, 622 cases were filed in 2020, 721 in 2019, 676 in 2018, 568 in 2017, 233 in 2016, 152 in 2015, 33 in 2014 and 3 in 2013. Meanwhile, a total of 316 cases have been received from the police station till March this year.

At present, about 2450 cases are pending in the tribunal. Of these, 2,060 cases came from police stations and the remaining 390 were filed in tribunals. Cybercrime alone costs Europe at least 929 billion a year, according to Interpol. On the other hand, according to the European Union, an average of at least one million people are attacked by cybercriminals every day.

The Information and Communication Technology Act was enacted in 2006 for the purpose of cyber security and prevention, investigation and prosecution of cyber crime. On the other hand, the 'Cyber Security Act' was enacted in 2015 for the same purpose. The latest Digital Security Act was enacted in 2018. Section 14 of the Cybersecurity Act stipulates that if a person intentionally takes and publishes a personal (intimate) photo without the permission of another person, he or she may be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment or a fine not exceeding 10 lakh or both.

On the other hand, if a person sends an electronic message along with the sender with the intention of cheating which materially misrepresents and harms the person concerned, he will be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding 3 lakh or both under section 10 of this Act. In addition, under Section 15 of the Act, anyone who stores child pornography or child pornography on a computer or computer system is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a fine not exceeding 10 lakh or both. On the other hand, the Digital Security Act, 2018 has discussed various penal provisions to prevent cyber crime.

Section 27 of the Act states that if a person is found guilty of committing a cyber terrorist act, he shall be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years or with a fine not exceeding 1 crore or both. Similarly, Article 28 of the Act states that any comment that offends religious values on a website or in an electronic format is punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or with a fine not exceeding 10 lakh or both.

The Digital Security Act discourages individuals from making comments that are defamatory or insulting to others. Nevertheless, if anyone publishes or disseminates defamatory information, he will be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or a fine not exceeding 5 lakhs or both as per Section 29 of this Act. Also, under section 34 of the law, if a person hacks, it will be considered a crime. He will also be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years imprisonment or a fine of not more than Tk 1 crore or both for committing the crime.

The invention of the mobile phone or computer network in the modern world is both a blessing and a curse. Because of this our youth is sinking into the darkness. On the other hand, the victims are people from all walks of life, especially women. The role of cyber tribunals as well as law enforcement agencies in preventing cybercrime has become a matter of time. It is pertinent to mention that, there was earlier only one cyber tribunal in Dhaka for cases under the Information Technology Act.

Recently 8 cyber tribunals have been formed in 8 divisions of the country. I think this is an effective step of the Bangladesh government to prevent cyber crime. In order to curb this crime, the existing laws of the country must be properly enforced. Above all, the family needs to be aware to strengthen the morale of the young victims of cyberbullying. In this way, I think it will be possible to prevent cyber crime with the joint efforts of all.


Abujar Gifary is Student of Department of Law, Islamic University.