08/07/2019
Official Secrets Act, 1923 (Act No. XIX of 1923).
Communications
with foreign agents
to be evidence of
commission of
certain offences
4.(1) In any proceedings against a person for an offence under section
3, the fact that he has been in communication with, or attempted to
communicate with, a foreign agent, whether within or without
Bangladesh, shall be relevant for the purpose of proving that he has,
for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State,
obtained or attempted to obtain information which is calculated to be
or might be, or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an
enemy.
(2) For the purpose of this section, but without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing provision,
(a) a person may be presumed to have been in communication with a
foreign agent if
(i) he has, either within or without Bangladesh, visited the address of a
foreign agent or consorted or associated with a foreign agent, or
(ii) either within or without Bangladesh, the name or address of, or
any other information regarding, a foreign agent has found in his
possession, or has been obtained by him from any other person;
(b) the expression "foreign agent" includes any person who is or has
been or in respect of whom it appears that there are reasonable
grounds for suspecting him of being or having been employed by a
foreign power, either directly or indirectly, for the purpose of
committing an act, either within or without Bangladesh, prejudicial to
the safety or interests of the State, or who has or is reasonably
suspected of having, either within or without Bangladesh, committed, or
attempted to commit, such an act in the interests of a foreign power;
(c) any address, whether within or without Bangladesh, in respect of
which is appears that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting it of
being an address used for the receipt of communications intended for a
foreign agent, or any address at which a foreign agent resides, or to
which he resorts for the purpose of giving or receiving communications,
or at which he carries on any business, may be presumed to be the
address of a foreign agent, and communications addressed to such an
address to be communications with a foreign agent.
Wrongful
communication,
etc, of information
5.(1) If any person having in his possession or control any secret
official code or pass word or any sketch, plan, model, article, note,
document or information which relates to or is used in a prohibited
place or relates to anything in such a place, or which has been made
or obtained in contravention of this Act, or which has been entrusted in
confidence to him by any person holding office under Government, or
which he has obtained or to which he has had access owing to his
position as a person who holds or has held office under Government,
or as a person who holds or has held a contract made on behalf of
Government, or as a person who is or has been employed under a
person who holds or has held such an office or contract
(a) wilfully communicates the code or pass word, sketch, plan, model,
article, note, document or information to any person other than a
person to whom he is authorized to communicate it, or a Court of
Justice or a person to whom it is, in the interests of the State, his
duty to communicate it; or
(b) uses the information in his possession for the benefit of any foreign
power or in any other manner prejudicial to the safety of the State; or
(c) retains the sketch, plan, model, article, note or document in his
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