'Revoke CrPC provisions on executive magistrates'

A human rights organisation yesterday served a legal notice asking the government to revoke or cancel within two weeks the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) empowering executive magistrates to perform judicial functions.
The executive magistrates have been given powers, through amendment to the CrPC, to pass orders in the cases, although no one, except the judicial magistrate, can perform such (judicial) functions as per the provisions of the constitution and the Supreme Court (SC) directives in the judgment of Masdar Hossain case, the notice said.
Supreme Court lawyer Manzill Murshid, on behalf of the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), sent the legal notice to the secretaries to the cabinet division, the president's secretariat, the Jatiya Sangsad secretariat and the law ministry.
Murshid told The Daily Star yesterday that he would take legal action against the respondents, if they don't take any step to revoke or cancel the provisions of the CrPC within two weeks.