Ansar Battalion Bill, 2023 passed in JS

The Ansar Battalion Bill, 2023 was passed in Parliament on Thursday, rejecting the proposal to empower Ansar battalions to detain criminals, search bodies and seize goods.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan moved the Bill and it was passed by voice vote.

The Ansar Battalion Bill, 2023, was placed in Parliament on October 23 where it proposed to empower the Ansar Battalion to detain criminals, search bodies and seize goods.

As per the initially proposed Bill, a battalion member shall, in the case of an offence committed against him, with the approval of the superior officer concerned, detain the offender and immediately hand him over to the police and, as the case may be, on the direction of the Judicial Magistrate or the Executive Magistrate or the officer responsible for the purpose, to search the person, enter and can search any place and seize the goods.

But the proposal witnessed serious opposition from the police department.

There, some amendments were recommended in some cases including clauses 7 and 8 of the Bill.

Section 8 of the Bill proposed to give the Ansar battalions powers of detention and search.

The parliamentary committee has recommended amendments in this section of the Bill.

This section states, “Any battalion shall take necessary action under the Criminal Procedure Code in respect of an offence committed in front of a member.”

According to committee sources, this proposal came from the police.

As per the Section 7 of the Bill, regarding the responsibility of the Ansar Battalion, it was said that the government or any government authority with the approval of the government will carry out the responsibility in any public security work.

Amendment was proposed here. It has been said that ‘will assist in the fulfillment of responsibilities’.

The Bill tabled in Parliament specified the maximum penalty for insurgency in Ansar forces to be death penalty or life imprisonment.

Parliamentary Committee has recommended the abolition of the ‘death penalty’ in this case.

After the meeting of the parliamentary committee, chairman Benazir Ahmed told the media that the amendment was proposed on the basis of consensus.

“There is a law, they will be governed by that law. They can take action under the Criminal Procedure Code 1898 in terms of jurisdiction and power,” he said.

According to the proposed law, there will be two courts to try the internal crimes of Ansar battalion members.

One is ‘Summery Ansar Battalion Court’ to be headed by an additional director and another is ‘Special Ansar Battalion Court’ to be headed by the director general, said Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain while briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat.

Serious crimes like committing mutiny, instigating for revolt, creating ground for rebellion, engaging in conspiracy will be tried in the Special Ansar Battalion Court. The maximum punishment for such crimes is the death penalty.

Besides, other serious crimes related to the punitive provisions ranging from life imprisonment to minimum five years of imprisonment will be tried in special courts.