Cabinet approves proposal for amendment to Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) Act

The Cabinet today approved in principle the draft of "The Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) (Amendment) Act, 2017" raising the punishment of jail terms by two years for committing crimes disrupting the law and order.

The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at the cabinet room of the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban here with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing the reporters after the meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the amendment has been made in the section 4(1) of the existing Law and Order Disruption (Speedy Trial) Act, 2002 to raise the punishment after wide range of discussions with the concerned stakeholders.

Trials of some offences like extortion, disrupting the transportation services, vandalism, tender manipulation, giving threat, mugging, creating terrorizing people as well as vandalism of public properties and immovable properties would come under the purview of the amended law as in the existing law, he said.

The Cabinet Secretary said according to the draft of the amendment, any one responsible for committing crimes for disruption of law and order would be punished for minimum two years and maximum seven years of rigorous imprisonment along with fine.

In the existing law, the punishment is minimum two years imprisonment and maximum five years imprisonment, Shafiul Alam said.

The Cabinet meeting also approved a proposal for ratifying the 'Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities'.

The Cabinet Secretary said the original convention was first adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) member states in 1979. Some 107 countries have so far signed and ratified the recent amendment to the Convention of the IAEA and Bangladesh also needs to sign the amendment of the IAEA as a signatory of the original convention.

The amendment of the IAEA would cover domestic use of nuclear materials, storage and transportation, he added.

The Cabinet meeting also approved the draft of an agreement titled 'Agreement between the Russian Federation and Bangladesh on Cooperation Concerning Return of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant to the Russian Federation'.

M Shafiul Alam said that the issue of returning back nuclear waste came up for primary discussion when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Russia and had meeting with Russian President.

The Russian Federation then agreed to dispose of nuclear waste, the Cabinet Secretary said adding that once the agreement is signed, Bangladesh would get relief from the nuclear waste hazard.

The agreement between the two countries could be signed anytime and it would help disposal of the nuclear wastes in accordance with the full safety measures, he said.

The Cabinet in today's meeting also approved a proposal to declare October 22 as "The National Safe Roads Day" and inclusion of the day in the 'Kha' serial of the cabinet's circular.

Shafiul Alam said, the day would be officially observed from now in memory of the late wife of Jahanara Kanchan, wife of noted actor Ilias Kanchan, who died in a tragic road accident on October 22, 1993.

He said, the day so far been observed unofficially and actor Ilias Kanchan, who later promoted a countrywide campaign fashioned 'Nirapad Sharak Chai', has a contribution in making the decision of observing the day officially.

At the very outset of the meeting, State Minister for ICT Junaid Ahmed Palak handed over the Global mobileGov Award 2017 to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The ICT Division of the government of Bangladesh got the award conferred by globally acclaimed m4life.org, during the MobileGov World Summit 2017 held in Brighton in UK last month. State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam received the award on behalf of the ICT Division.

This prestigious award was given to promote the development of mobile-phone based technology across the globe as well as exchange of necessary knowledge in this regard.

Source: bss