Inside Bangladesh’s Cyberspace
Inside Bangladesh’s CyberspaceAnalysis

The colonial governance logic.

Several of today’s digital laws borrow language, policy design philosophies and structures and enforcement paradigm from colonial-era statutes, retaining a punitive, rights-infringing and executive-centered approach.

One code, three eras.

How the speech offenses in the Penal Code were written, added to and carried forward.

  1. 1860

    The Penal Code

    Most of its speech offenses were first written in the nineteenth century, as remnants of a colonial past.

  2. Colonial era

    1. 1898

      Indian Penal Code Amendment Act

      Later amendments, such as this one, added more of the speech offenses.

  3. Pakistan era

    1. 1950

      Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Act

      Another amendment carried further speech provisions into the Code.

    2. 1962movement

      Inducing students into politics

      §153B

      Introduced while students in East Pakistan were politically active, especially during the 1962 Education Movement.

    3. 1965

      Offering prizes to promote sales

      §294B

      Rewards, discounts and promotional offers became a crime.

  4. Bangladesh

    1. 1991

      Offenses against the state and public order

      §505A

      The one exception, added after the return to parliamentary democracy.

  5. Today

    Still in force, now online

    Their broad wording is capable of reaching social media posts, blogs and other digital communications.

Built to control, kept in force.

Then

Written for control by colonial administrators.

Offenses that may once have seemed reasonable for keeping a subjugated population under control.

Still in force

Now

Kept in a constitutional & parliamentary democracy.

They now stand in direct tension with the Constitution’s promise of rule of law, fundamental human rights & freedom, equality & justice.

What the old code still carries.

Dissent treated as crime

§§124A, 153A, 295A, 499

Offenses on sedition, public order, religion, defamation and student politics are overbroad and vaguely drafted, with low thresholds and disproportionate penalties.

Morality policed

§509

Insulting a woman’s “modesty” rests on a colonial-era idea of morality and a paternalistic view of who needs protecting.

Rules for an older economy

§294B

A ban written for a physical, local economy could now reach discount codes, cashback and loyalty programs.

The pattern repeats in newer laws.

  1. 2001Bangladesh Telecommunication Act
  2. 2006Information and Communication Technology Act
  3. 2012Pornography Control Act
  4. 2018Digital Security Act
  5. 2023Cyber Security Act
  6. 2025Cyber Protection Ordinance
  7. 2026Cyber Protection Act

The Cyber Protection Act, 2026 largely reproduces many of the structural features, policy choices and legal deficiencies of its predecessors.

Like its predecessor, it continues to consolidate wide government authority over online expression, cybersecurity, platform governance and data.

Other laws that have been inspired by colonial logic

Sedition, at its source.

In England, sedition began as a common-law offense to suppress dissent against the monarchy.

Referenced to show different approaches, not as models for adoption.

United Kingdom

Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Abolished sedition and seditious libel in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland.

Read the text

New Zealand and Singapore

Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Act 2007 · Sedition (Repeal) Act 2021

Repealed sedition and moved to laws aimed at specific harms such as terrorism or hate speech.

Read the text

Bangladesh is not alone. Similar patterns of colonial-era statutes, executive overreach and weak institutional safeguards are evident in many parts of the world.