Garena Online Pvt Ltd of Singapore, the maker of the Free Fire game, has appealed to the High Court to join the hearing of the rule on banning harmful games, including PUBG and Free Fire from online platforms of Bangladesh.
The petition was heard for the third day on Sunday. The court has fixed October 26 as the date for their attending the hearing.
HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah passed the order.
Barristers Junaid Ahmed Chowdhury and Tanvir Quader were present on behalf of Garena’s application and Barrister Humayun Kabir Pallab was present at the hearing on behalf of the writ petition.
Earlier, on August 16, HC asked the authorities concerned to take steps to remove harmful games including PUBG and Free Fire from online platforms in Bangladesh.
The court also issued a rule seeking explanation as to why all types of online games and apps like Tiktok, Bigo Live, PUBG, Free Fire Games and Likee should not be banned.
On 24 June, Law and Life Foundation, a human rights organization, filed the writ petition with the High Court seeking directives to ban Likee, TikTok, Bigo Live apps, and PUBG and Free Fire games in Bangladesh.
Secretary to the Post and Telecommunication Division, Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Education, Home, Law and Health secretaries, and the Inspector General of Police, Bangladesh Bank, bKash, Nagad and 18 other individuals and organizations were asked to respond to the rule within 10 days.
Garena Online Pvt Ltd of Singapore earlier applied to the HC to take part in the rule hearing. According to the application, there are many players of Free Fire in Bangladesh. For the link backing of Free Fire in Bangladesh, Garena has been facing direct financial losses and that’s why they want to take part in the hearing.
However, Barrister Pallab said Garena is a registered company of Singapore. They have no legal registration or office in Bangladesh. So, legally they do not have the opportunity to apply for taking part at the hearing.
On June 24, Supreme Court lawyers Barrister Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab and Barrister Mohammad Kawshar filed the writ petition on behalf of the human rights organization Law and Life Foundation.
Source: United News of Bangladesh