MUMBAI: On Friday, 10 July, a court in Bangladesh ruled against mobile phone users from using film songs from India and other nations in the sub-continent as ringtones or welcome tunes. A ruling such as this would affect the country’s 121 million ringtones (Caller Ring Back Tones) and welcome tunes subscribers, according to data available on the website of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

bdnews24 online reported that the High Court ruled ‘abstention’ from the use of songs and tunes from Hindi Bollywood films, Indo-Bangladeshi films and films produced in any other country in the Indian subcontinent as Value Added Services (VAS) of the mobile operators.

The order with a rule was issued after hearing a writ petition with presiding justices Farah Mahbub and Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo. The writ petition was filed in June by Music Industries Owners Association President AKM Arifur Rahman and General Secretary SK Shahed Ali.

The lawyer representing the petition, Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury further went on to ask why the use of these songs and tunes as VAS offered by mobile operators should not be declared illegal. To that, secretaries of culture, information, home and law ministries, BTRC chairman and all mobile operators in the country were asked to reply within four weeks.

Following the order, Chowdhury said, “Import policy bars the import of Indian or sub-continental films to Bangladesh. That is why songs of those (films) cannot be used as welcome tune or ringtone."