YouTube channel owners responsible for guests’ remarks during live: Appellate Division
The four-member appeal bench led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddque also stayed for four months the High Court order granting bail to JnU student Khadija in two Digital Security Act cases
YouTube channel owners will be held responsible for the comments made by their guests during live broadcasts, Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique has said.
"If you can call someone for a talk show interview, why can you not take responsibility for what they say?" he said during the hearing of an appeal over Jagannath University student Khadijatul Kubra's bail on Monday (10 July).
The court said, "If any anti-state or criminal discussion and speech is given in the live programme of a YouTube channel, the owner and host of the channel must take responsibility for it. Both the moderator and speaker should be held accountable."
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The four-member appeal bench led by Hasan Foez Siddque also stayed for four months the High Court order granting bail to Khadija in two Digital Security Act cases.
"It is not right to say that Khadija does not understand anything because she is an honours first-year student," the court told her lawyers.
Lawyer BM Elias Kachee and Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua appeared on behalf of Khadija in the court.
Earlier in February, the High Court granted Khadija's bail plea. However, in view of the state's application, the chamber judge suspended the bail order given by the High Court and sent it to the Appellate Division for a hearing.
In October 2020, police filed two separate cases under the Digital Security Act against Khadijatul Kubra and retired Major Delwar Hossain in Kalabagan and New Market police stations for allegedly spreading anti-government statements online and tarnishing the image of the country.
The allegations and descriptions of the two cases filed within a week were identical. Khadija was arrested by police on 17 September last year and has been in prison since then.
In the case of the New Market police station, SI Khairul Islam said that he watched a video on Major (Retd) Delwar's YouTube channel on the morning of 11 October 2020.
Khadijatul Kubra was the host of the video titled "Humanity for Bangladesh." According to the case statements, in the video, Delwar Hossain gave various instructions to "overthrow the legitimate democratic government of Bangladesh."
