Parliamentary body against empowering Ansars to make arrests

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday recommended against empowering Ansar to detain criminals, search bodies and seize goods.

The Ansar Battalion Bill, 2023 was placed in parliament on Monday by the home minister, giving a member of the force the authority – with the approval of a superior officer – to detain anyone for an offence against him and hand over the offender to police.

After examining the bill, the parliamentary committee in a meeting recommended some amendments to some clauses of the bill.

For example, Section 8 of the bill proposed giving the Ansar battalions powers of detention and search. The parliamentary committee yesterday recommended amending the 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 Section 7 of the Bill, regarding the responsibility of the Ansar Battalion, it was said the government or any government authority with the approval of the government will carry out the responsibility in any public security work.

The parliamentary body proposed amendment to the section, saying it "will assist in the fulfilment of responsibilities".

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

The committee has recommended the abolition of the "death penalty" in this case.

After the meeting of the parliamentary committee, its 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 "Summary 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