Law
week
Coaching centres played dubious role
A few coaching centres that prepare candidates for recruitment tests had been involved in the leak of question papers for assistant teachers at public high schools. The candidates arrested along with some government employees at a guesthouse in Gangachhara upazila in Rangpur on July 8 made the revelation to police. Several coaching centres in the capital and elsewhere have links with the syndicate, they told law enforcers. Police, however, did not mention names of any coaching centres for the sake of investigation. It was found that the question papers could be taken out of the Bangladesh Government (BG) Press due to negligence of police in frisking press employees entering and leaving the restricted zone at the press. -The Daily Star, July 15, 2010.
War crimes trial must not be motivated
The UK State Minister for International Development Alan Duncan said the trial of 1971 war criminals should be conducted fairly through proper judicial process. The government must ensure that the judgement is not politically motivated, said Duncan while addressing a press conference jointly organised by the British High Commission in Dhaka and UK Department for International Development (DFID) at the city's Lake Shore Hotel. He, however, appreciated the government's move for holding the trial even after 40 years of the country's independence. -The Daily Star, July 15, 2010.
Victims' families want quick trial
Family members and relatives of the army officers slain in last year's BDR mutiny demanded quick and fair trial of the killers. In their reaction to submission of the charge sheet of BDR killing case, some of them expressed their concern over the time needed for the trial terming it a bit lengthy. On February 25 and 26 last year, 57 army officers were killed during a 33-hour mayhem at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka. "All I want is to see the trial finish quickly," said Fatema Sultana, wife of slain Col Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, in a voice choked with emotion. -The Daily Star, July 14, 2010.
Arrests made ignoring court order
Jamaat-e-Ismali protested the arrest of its two leaders Quader Mollah and Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and demanded unconditional release of all detained top brass. Acting Jamaat Ameer Maqbul Ahmed and Acting Secretary General ATM Azharul Islam jointly issued a statement on arrest of the Jamaat duo from the High Court premises. The statement said the ruling Awami League proved that it does not believe in the rule of law and freedom of speech. They also said police arrested both leaders ignoring a High Court order. -The Daily Star, July 14, 2010.
Procurement law passed dropping experience clause
The Jatiya Sangsad passed a bill dropping from the Public Procurement Act 2006 the provision of past experience as a condition for getting contracts for public work involving up to Tk 2 crore. It also passed another bill for setting up a tourism board for development of tourism industry. Planning Minister AK Khandker proposed passage of the bill for bringing a few amendments to the PPA which include dropping the provision of past experience. Earlier last year, the planning minister had placed a bill in parliament with the same purposes. But during scrutiny of the bill, the parliamentary standing committee on the planning ministry changed the proposal for dropping from the PPA the provision of past experience. -The Daily Star, July 13, 2010.
Cabinet okays Border Guard Bangladesh Act
The cabinet approved the draft of the Border Guard Bangladesh Act 2010 with a provision of capital punishment for mutiny offences. The approval came at a weekly meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the Cabinet Division of the secretariat. The draft includes a provision of death penalty as maximum punishment, which was seven years' imprisonment for mutiny offences under the existing BDR law, premier's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the meeting. He said a three-tier court system would replace the existing one-tier one. Of the three courts, the Special Border Guard Court could award capital punishment for mutiny, or instigating mutiny or similar offences. -The Daily Star, July 13, 2010.
No power for UGC to fix tuition fees
The parliament passed the Private University Bill, snubbing the cabinet's move to empower the University Grant Commission (UGC) to fix tuition fees of private universities. The cabinet's another proposal for empowering UGC to approve the salaries and service rules for teachers and other staff of private universities was also scrapped from the bill. Instead, the House passed the bill incorporating recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee on education ministry which stood against boosting the UGC's supervisory power over private universities. -The Daily Star, July 12, 2010.
Special court starts trying 735 accused
As a Bangladesh Rifles special court in its Pilkhana headqurters started trying a record number of 735 accused in a single mutiny, the prosecutor narrated how brutally some of them killed commanding officers, and tortured some other officers and their family members. Lt Col Md Badrul Alam, prosecutor of the case, told the court that the mutineers killed the acting commanding officer of Sadar Rifle Battalion, tortured one officer tying him with a coconut tree, and tortured some other officers and their family members as well. -The Daily Star, July 12, 2010.
Another dies in custody
A man died in police custody in Nabinagar Police Station of Brahmanbaria, six days after the High Court asked the government to form a committee to investigate custodial deaths. The dead was identified as Mohammad Nurul Haque, 35, a rickshaw-puller, of Bidyakut village in Nabinagar upazila. Officer in-Charge of the police station Rupok Saha said Nabinagar police arrested fugitive Nurul Saturday night around 3:30am. He was admitted to Nabinagar Health Complex immediately after his arrest as he complained of chest pain. The police shifted him to Brahmanbaria Sadar Hospital the next morning around 6:00am since his condition deteriorated and he died at around 6:30am, the OC added. -The Daily Star, July 12, 2010.
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