Amnesty urges Bangladesh to release teenage girl Dipti

International rights organisation Amnesty International in a statement on Thursday demanded immediate release of teenage girl Dipti Rani Das, who had been in detention at a correction facility for more than a year.Police arrested Dipti, 17, on October 28, 2020 in Dinajpur for a Facebook post that contained a photograph of a woman keeping a copy of the Qur’an in between her thighs.

Booked under the country’s controversial Digital Security Act on charges of ‘hurting religious sentiment’ and ‘advancing to deteriorate law and order’, she could face up to seven years in jail, if convicted.

‘You cannot be not concerned by such forms of punishment that seizes critical, formative years of a child’s life simply for a Facebook post,’ Amnesty International’s South Asia campaigner Saad Hammadi said in an urgent call to prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

‘It shows how repressive laws like the Digital Security Act can effectively traumatise an individual. The state is the guardian of its people. Instead of providing protection, we have a teenage girl languishing at a correction facility for more than a year. Deepti Rani Das should be in school, not in detention,’ he said.

The human rights organisation called on government to urgently repeal or substantially amend the 2018 Digital Security Act and end the crackdown on people’s right to freedom of expression online.

At least 433 people have been imprisoned under the DSA as of July 2021, most of whom are held on allegations of publishing false and offensive information online, it said.

Amnesty said a High Court bench granted Dipti bail on May 11 after she was denied bail three times at a lower court.

However, the bail order was stayed through an appeal by the local administration chief.

Amnesty also urged the government to ensure the protection of Dipti, her family and other members of minority groups in Bangladesh from communal or politically motivated attacks.

At least six people were killed and over a hundred Hindu temples were attacked in October after footage circulated on social media in which a copy of the Qur’an was shown placed on the knee of an idol of god Hanuman in a mandap during Durga Puja in Cumilla.