ASK fears abuse for further increase in penalty
Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) yesterday expressed deep concern over the newly passed Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
In a statement, the right body said that fresh increase in penalty will create opportunity for “misuse of the law for political gains.”
The parliament yesterday passed the law raising the imprisonment to seven years from five years for disrupting law and order.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal placed the bill before the parliament, seeking its immediate passage.
The original Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) Act was first effective in 2002 for two years, and subsequently went through several amendments.
In its last amendment in 2014, a bill was passed to amend the law and extend it to remain effective till 2019, the statement said.
Although the tenure of the law was not extended in the latest amendment, the fresh increase in the penalty has been raised.
Initially, it was assumed that the law will make significant contributions towards reducing the tardiness in the trial processes in the judiciary of Bangladesh, the statement added.
However, civil society members remain concerned over “the implementation of the law” and increase of its time through repeated amendments in the past years, it also said.
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