Bangladesh Draft Law Keeps Death Penalty, Shifts Disappearance Probe to Police
Bangladesh’s BNP government has proposed a new draft law on enforced disappearance. This new law keeps the death penalty for this serious crime. The Ministry of Home Affairs prepared the draft law.
The draft law suggests an important change. An earlier law gave the National Human Rights Commission the job of investigating enforced disappearances. But the new draft law assigns this task to the police. This change has raised concerns.
If the police do not accept a complaint, a person can directly file it in court. The Ministry of Home Affairs has put the draft law on its website. They are asking people for their opinions. Officials will finalize the law after getting public feedback.
An inter-ministerial meeting on the draft law will happen today. The government expects to send the law to the Cabinet soon. It may then be passed in the next Parliament session.
The interim government had passed an ordinance last year. That ordinance also included the death penalty for enforced disappearance. The BNP government has reviewed many old ordinances. They decided to introduce new bills for some of them, including this one.
The new law will be called the Prevention and Redress of Enforced Disappearance Act. The word “Protection” is removed from its old title. A Ministry of Home Affairs official said police investigate all criminal cases. This is why the Human Rights Commission was removed from this role.
However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) is worried about this change. They believe police investigation may not ensure proper accountability. HRW’s Meenakshi Ganguly said this might also fail to stop future disappearances.
The draft law still makes destroying evidence a crime. However, it reduces the minimum jail sentence for this. The earlier ordinance had a minimum of seven years. The new draft proposes five years. The maximum fine remains Tk 2 million.
Building secret detention facilities, like “Aynaghar,” also carries a reduced sentence. The minimum jail term will be five years, down from seven years. The fine remains up to Tk 2 million.
The draft law defines enforced disappearance clearly. It is when a public official or a member of disciplined forces arrests or hides a person. They then deny holding the person or hide their location.
If a victim dies, or is missing for five years, the offender faces severe punishment. This includes the death penalty or life imprisonment. They will also get at least five years in jail and a fine of up to Tk 10 million.
