From Criminal Defamation to Cyber Defamation: The Continuance of Colonial Practice from British India to Independent Bangladesh

Abstract

While in most countries of the world, there is a trend towards abolishing criminal defamation, Bangladesh has adopted it in cyber laws. The codification of Laws in British India resulted in a complex relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Criminal defamation has persisted in many other ex-British colonies, including Bangladesh, and it has an expanding nature towards a more severe form. To understand the nature of defamation in the cyber world, we must first know the history of the perpetuation of criminal defamation in this country. This article is a historical inquiry into the origin of ongoing defamation laws from British India to today’s Bangladesh and a proposal to decriminalising defamation.