Peerganj (Thakurgaon) Correspondent:
Drone footage of a content creator in the border area of Pirganj Upazila of Thakurgaon has recently gone viral on social media. In the video, the area along the Indian border, the BSF posts and the border pillars are captured. Legal experts and security analysts say this incident is not just a technical act but a direct violation of state sovereignty and international airspace law.
According to Sections 66 and 72 of the Civil Aviation Act, 2017 of Bangladesh, flying drones without permission in areas adjacent to borders or military areas is strictly prohibited. Taking footage using drones at Pirganj border is a clear violation of those clauses. Besides, under Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, collection of photographs or videos of places related to defense or security is a breach of state secrets which is considered a serious offence. Further, by disseminating the footage online, he violated Sections 25 and 31 of the Digital Security Act, 2018, which constitutes the offense of unauthorized dissemination of digital information.
On the other hand, the phenomenon is more serious in the international context. According to Articles 1 and 3(c) of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention, 1944), no civilian aircraft or drone can enter the airspace of a state without the permission of another state. Drone flights along the border are de facto surveillance of India’s sovereign airspace, which contravenes the “interference with sovereignty” principle of the UN Charter (Article 2[4]).
Besides, as per the terms of the Bangladesh-India Border Management Agreement 2011, both countries have pledged to refrain from any kind of “hostile surveillance or intelligence activity” on each other’s borders. As a result, the work of this content creator in Pirganj indicates not only a local but also a bilateral breach of contract.
Some legal experts in Pirganj said, “Through this incident, a person can be subjected to multiple legal offences; imprisonment up to 5 years under the Civil Aviation Act, imprisonment up to 14 years under the Official Secrets Act, and up to 7 years under the Digital Security Act.”