Cyber Tribunal and Cyber Appellate Tribunal in Bangladesh

I have presented this slide before my course teacher. Now I am publishing this slide for all Students in Bangladesh which may help them for their study.

1. Presented By Abir Hossain Talukder LL.B (Hon’s) 5 th Semester Department of law Bangladesh University of Professionals Cyber Tribunal and Cyber Appellate Tribunal in Bangladesh

2. Tribunal are the Courts or other adjudicatory bodies with judicial or quasi-judicial functions set up either by the constitution or by the statute and exist outside the usual judicial hierarchy of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh but under its control. What is Tribunal?

3. Government of Bangladesh by gazette notification, for the purpose of quick and effective trial of the crimes committed under the ICT ACT – 2006 , may established one or more Cyber Tribunal under Section 68(1) of the Act. This Cyber Tribunal is stated in the Act as how it will be composed of . A Session Judge or Additional Session Judge Appointed by the Government with the consultation of the High Court Division. Cyber Tribunal

4. Such a judge appointed will be introduced as “judge” of Cyber Tribunal for the Whole Bangladesh . As we have only one Cyber Tribunal which is situated in Dhaka Judge Court and runs with the matter relating to ICT Act of the whole Bangladesh. From time to time it will be increased more. This court runs with the offences which are committed by the Act. This Special Tribunal may sit and continue its procedure on a place at a certain time and government will dictate all this by its order. Continue --------

5. According to Section 69(1) of ICT Act, the special tribunal will not take any case for trial unless there is a written report by any Police Officer not under the rank of Sub – Inspector and Approval of the Controller or such person having the authority from the controller for the purpose. This Tribunal shall for the purpose of trial will follow Chapter 23 >Trial by Court of Session< under the Code of Criminal Procedure, trial in session court . Procedure of Trial in Cyber Tribunal

6. If the Accused person is missing or hiding himself for which it is not possible to arrest him or there is less possibility to arrest him earlier, in that case the tribunal; by its order may ask that person to present in the court by publishing in two prominent Bangla Newspaper at a prescribed time and if that person fails to do so, the trial will held with his absent. When the Accused person having bail , after being present before the tribunal, if he is missing or if he fails to present in front of the tribunal;, in that case sub – section 4 of 69 will not be applicable . In Case of Absent (At the time of Starting or after Bail)

7. In that case that tribunal with absence of that person, try him registering it’s decision. This tribunal may in writing give judgment of the absent of that person . This tribunal also may of its own effort, give the order to re-investigate any case made under this Act and give order to submit report in a prescribed time by the authority to any Police Officer or in case of any authority from the Controller . Trial in Absentia

8. Section 70 of ICT Act – 2006 says the laws of Criminal Procedure as far as possible, being not contrary to this Act be applicable to the procedure of the tribunal and the tribunal will have all the Original Jurisdiction of the Session Judge. The advocate on behalf of the Government shall be known as the Public Prosecutor who will open the case. Application of Criminal Procedure in Procedure of Tribunal

9. According to Section 71 of ICT act says – It will not bail to ay person accused of under the Act, unless – The Government side is given scope for hearing on the grounds of bail. The judge is satisfied that :- ( i ) there is enough ground to believe that the accused might not be proved guilty (ii) The Crime in prima facie view is not too heavy for punishment even the crime is proved, will not be hard. Bail R u les

10. Nasirn filed the ICT case on January 5 with Mohammadpur police station. She alleged that Sunny had posted their intimate pictures on social media without her consent. Lastly he got relief on bail from the case by the Tribunal.

11. Section – 72(1) of the Act, said the tribunal should finish examination of witness or evidence or hearing . whichever occurs later, will give judgment within ten days if he does not extend the time not more than ten days with written reasons for that. When any judgment is given under sub-sec (1) of the section or if any appeal to the cyber appeal tribunal is made against the Judgment then the copy of the appeal judgment will be sent to the Controller by the Cyber Tribunal or Appellate Tribunal to reserve it according to Section 18(7) of the Act. After sending the copy, the Controller will take proper Action with proper process. Time limitation for giving Judgment

12. Section 73 of the Act says, any case under this tribunal shall from the filing of the case shall be pronounced its judgment within SIX MONTHS . If Fails then -  a Written Statement by stating with the proper reason time shall be increased for three months. If fails to conclude within that time then the judge has to submit a paper to High Court and the Controller stating the reasons behind the delay. D i sposal of a Case in Tribunal

13. Section – 74 Says, Unless if the Special Tribunal formed for the proceeding, then Crimes made under this act shall be judged under Session Judge . In this regard Chapter – 23 of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall be followed. Justice By Session Court

14. Section 76(2) of the ICT Act says, the crimes under this Act shall be considered as both – Cognizable offence (Non – Bail-able ) Sections :- 54 , 56 , 57 & 61 of the Act Non – Cognizable Offence (Bail-able) Sections :- 55, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64 & 65 Investigation of Crime

15. Section 77 of ICT Act, provides the provision regarding Confiscation. It says any Computer, Computer System , floppies , Computer disks , tape drives or any other accessories related thereto by which any offence has been committed, shall be liable to confiscation by an order of the court trying an offence or contravention. But above mentioned those will not be taken if those are used as or any related things of any Government or registered government official is used then those will not be confiscated. Confiscation

16. Under Section – 80 of the Act says that a Police Officer not below the rank of an Inspector of Police shall investigate any offence under this act. Enter Public Place Search and arrest without warrant At the field level do not have an IP who have knowledge of computer or Internet where many computer graduates have been requited in the police department or to qualified IP’s of Police who can deals with the technology matters. More power to Police Officer

17. Our ICT act recognized the polices to arrest without warrant. In any Public Place may do so In any Private Place should be allowed with a letter of authorization from the concerned unit head. Arrest, Investigation, Notice, Search or Confiscation under this Act shall follow the Code of Criminal Procedure. Arrest Without Warr a nt

18. Section 82 – (1) of the act provides that Government shall by notification in the Official Gazette, established one or more Appellate Tribunal to be known as Cyber Appellate Tribunal . It shall be composed of :- A Chairman (appointed by the Government) Two Members (appointed by the Government) Cyber Appellate Tribunal

19. Chairman will be a person who was a justice of the Supreme Court or is continuing his post or capable of so. One Member shall be as an appointed judicial executive or as a District Judge or he may be retired. Another Member will be an expert of Information and Technology that is prescribed. They will runs this post 3 to 5 years as the govt. may wants. Q u alifications for CAT

20. The Cyber Appellate Tribunal have the power to here and settle the appeal made against the judgment of cyber tribunal and session court . They have the authority of supporting, concealing, changing or editing the judgment of the cyber tribunal. The decision of this Appellate Tribunal shall be final . If the CAT will not established , then Code of Criminal Procedure appeal to High Court Division of the Supreme Court against judgment of Session Judge or Cyber Tribunal shall be gone. Procedure and powers of CAT

21. Though this Cyber Appellate Tribunal does not vested any Original Jurisdiction , it has been vested with the powers of a Civil Court in respect of interalia . Summoning and examination of Witnesses Requiring production of Documents Receiving evidence Issuing Commissions Reviewing its decisions

22. Cyber Crime Tribunal has been set – up based on the ICT act for dealings with this matters but we have only one Cyber Tribunal situated in Dhaka Judge Court which is not enough for conducting the cases. Officials before the formation said that “the Cyber Tribunal, the first of its kind in the country, will be empowered to conclude trials within six months For this reason a case now increasing its time from six months to two years sometimes. Effectiveness of Cyber Tribunal in BD

23. Only 5% conviction rate in cyber crime cases over 5 years – Dhaka Tribune (30 January 2018) There have been only 16 successful convictions across 12 of the 236 cases heard before the tribunal since its inception in February 2013 In 129 of the other cyber crime cases , the accused were cleared of all charges in the final report submitted before the tribunal by police . The tribunal discharged the accused in a further 59 cases without taking charges into cognizance , while the defendants in 36 cases were acquitted as the prosecution failed to prove the charges during the trial. Statistics of Cyber Tribunal in BD

24. Experts claimed the main reason the prosecution has been failing to prove allegations is their lack of knowledge on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and negligence . sources from among lawyers also alleged that the high acquittal rate was due to the prosecution being weak in the handling of cyber crime cases . Qazi Zahed Iqbal , a lawyer who has dealt with a number of cyber crime-related cases, told the Dhaka Tribune that investigation officers are submitting faulty probe reports due to their poor knowledge about ICT Continue --------

25. The prosecution lawyers are also not experienced in dealing with cyber crime cases (and) have some weakness as this is a new type of offence. The prosecution lawyers are not properly producing witnesses before the court to give testimonies in the cases Now, the criminal investigation department ( CID ), Police Bureau of Investigation ( PBI ) and the cyber crime unit of Dhaka Metropolitan police ( DMP ) are giving training to the investigation officers of the ICT cases recently. Continue ------------

26. Since the formation of the Cyber Tribunal (Bangladesh) in February 2013, more reports of cyber crimes have surfaced. Out of a total of 465 cases, the tribunal received three cases in 2013, 33 in 2014, 152 in 2015 and 233 in 2016. We have to set up minimum one Cyber Tribunal in each Division for reducing the number of cases and shift those cases to the particular divisions. We have to established one Cyber Appellate Tribunal in Bangladesh. Judges and Lawyers for this tribunal should be trained for disputing this problem in exact way. Recommendations