International

Law to try lawbreakers takes effect

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA April 10. The Bangladesh Parliament has passed a controversial Bill that will allow law offenders to be put on summary trial. The Bill called "Offences Disrupting Law and Order (summary trial), 2002" was passed last night amid a walkout by the Opposition.

The main Opposition party, the Awami League, which has been boycotting Parliament, demonstrated inside the parliament building against the "black law" alleging that it was aimed at suppressing the Opposition. Other Opposition parties have also described the new law as "not only anti-people but also unconstitutional". M. Amir-ul-Islam, a leading lawyer, said, "The law is motivated and discriminatory. It is aimed at harassing the political opponents of the government." The Bill was passed a week after the Khaleda Zia Government scrapped a controversial anti-terrorism law brought into force by the previous Government of Sheikh Hasina. The new law, which will be in force for two years, will deal with crimes relating to terrorism, extortion, obstruction to movement of vehicles, kidnapping and damaging vehicles. It prescribes trial within 30 days of submitting the charge sheet and a jail term of two to five years with fine. The Government will also set up special tribunals to hold summary trials. The Home Minister, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, told Parliament that the law was necessary for the speedy trial of law offenders. "There will be intense monitoring to check abuse of the law," he said. But the Awami League said it would launch a countrywide movement against the Government. The party, which termed the law the "worst in the country's history", said it would fight the law politically and legally.

In her reaction to the new law, which allows videotapes, still photographs, discs and recorded conversations to be produced as evidence, Sheikh Hasina said, "First they (the coalition Government) have repressed our leaders and workers, then pro-liberation public servants. Now, they are ready to launch an Awami League cleaning operation under the cover of the black law," The leader of the Opposition alleged that the Government wanted to establish a single party rule and eliminate the Opposition

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Tight security for Prabakaran kept scribes guessing till the last
• U.S. stress on Mitchell plan
• India, Bangladesh trade talks conclude
• Pak. status has risen: Musharraf
• More Russian fighter planes coming
• 'Benazir comments irresponsible '
• SAARC meet adopts plan to activate SAPTA
• Law to try lawbreakers takes effect
• Radical changes in French cinema
• No deal with IRA, says Reid
• `Courts cannot question referendum order'

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu