Speedy Trial Act amendment aims to keep BNP out of elections: Mirza Fakhrul

The BNP has said that the government move to raise maximum penalty under the Speedy Trial Tribunal Act by two years is aimed at keeping the party out of elections.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 6 June 2017, 02:28 PM
Updated : 6 June 2017, 02:28 PM

Speaking at a discussion in Dhaka on Tuesday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, "Why they have raised the maximum penalty under that Act? Because they want to conduct another election alone, like that of Jan 5, 2014, one, if the opposition leaders and activists can be put in jail under this Act."

"We want to make it clear that this won't happen this time. The people will not let you hold an election like that of Jan 5, 2014. They will defend their rights to vote. They will establish a real government of the people," he added.

The Cabinet on Monday cleared a proposal in principle to amend the law by raising the maximum punishment from five years to seven years in jail for offences punishable under the Act.

The BNP leader also said that the ruling Awami League was 'afraid of' fair elections because it had 'no connection with people'.

"They don't want the BNP, people in elections," he said.

The Speedy Trial Act was enacted in 2002 for two years when the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami Alliance government was in office. Its tenure was extended several times later.

The law is used to prosecute offences like extortion, traffic blockade, damaging vehicles and properties, mugging, robbery and similar criminal conducts.

The law has a provision of completing trials within 120 days with an option for extending it for another 60 days.

However, both the Awami League and BNP, when in opposition, criticises the law harshly, describing it as a tool to suppress the opposition. 

In the discussion organised by Doctors' Association of Bangladesh or DAB, Mirza Fakhrul also slammed the government once again for revoking the election-time caretaker government system.

"They cancelled it because they know they will never be able to come to power if such a system remains," he said. 

He also questioned the killings of militants during raids, terming the operations 'dramas'.

 "You (police) haven't been able to bring a single militant to trial. In your words, you open fire whenever you see them. Then where is the trial? People understand these dramas," he said.