The High Court has ruled out a petition seeking revocation of its order banning 'harmful and addictive' online games like Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) from all online platforms in the country.
As a result, the order to ban all the harmful online games including PUBG remained in force, the lawyers said.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order hearing a plea by PUBG game controller Singapore based Company Proxima Beta Pvt Ltd,.
Barrister Sameer Sattar moved on behalf of Proxima, while Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab was against the plea.
Responding to a writ petition filed on 16 August last year, the HC ordered the banning of 'harmful and addictive' online games like PUBG and Garena Free Fire in Bangladesh.
On 25 August, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered the removal of 'dangerous' games such as PUBG, and Garena Free Fire from the country's online platforms following the High Court directive.
On 24 June 2021, Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab and Barrister Mohammad Kausar filed a writ petition with the HC seeking directives to take down 'harmful and addictive games' such as PUBG and Free Fire, and also video sharing and streaming apps.
Secretaries of posts and telecommunications, education, home, law and health ministries, the inspector general of police, the Bangladesh Bank governor, the BTRC chairman, and mobile network operators were made respondents to the writ.
