Staff correspondent :

The Cabinet today gave the final approval to the draft of ‘Ansar Battalion Act, 2023’ with a provision of the death penalty as the maximum punishment for committing different crimes, including mutiny and provocation for rebellion.

The approval came from the Cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the city with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

“As per the draft law, there will be two courts to run the trial proceedings of 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 of the Ansar,” Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain said while briefing reporters at the Secretariat here this afternoon after the meeting.

Trials of serious crimes like committing mutiny, inciting rebellion, creating ground for revolt and engaging in conspiracy will be held in the ‘Special Ansar Battalion Court’, he said, adding that the maximum punishment for such crimes would be death penalty.

Besides, trials of other serious crimes related to the punitive provisions ranging from life imprisonment to minimum five years of imprisonment will be held in the special court, the cabinet secretary said, adding that in the law there are provisions for lodging appeals against the verdict and the convicted by these courts could appeal to the President.

The cabinet, earlier, approved the draft law in principle in March this year.

The Cabinet also approved two separate draft laws for setting up two more public universities — ‘Jatir Pita Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Science and Technology University, Narayanganj’ in Narayanganj and ‘Satkhira Science and Technology University’ in Satkhira, he said.

The meeting also approved a proposal to amend the private primary school teacher (service conditions) rules, 2013, through which the timeframe for fulfilling the conditions of qualification of teachers of 26,193 schools (government) nationalized in 2013 has been proposed to extend, Mahbub Hossain said.

As per the rules, the teachers of all those schools will get the opportunity to fulfill the conditions by December 2025, he added.

Besides, the Cabinet decided to celebrate the ‘World Teachers day’ on October 5 every year, instead of ‘National Teachers Day’ and include it as the ‘Kha’ category day as per circular of the Cabinet Division, the cabinet secretary said.

The cabinet approved the draft of National Academy for Primary Education Act, 2013 in principle, he said.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to identify the people who go abroad using fake certificates and their abettors and take legal actions against them, Mahbub Hossain said.

“The prime minister directed the home minister to bring the culprits to justice, identifying how they get these fake certificates, how they go with fake certificates and who helps them,” he said, adding that the ministries concerned will assist in this regard.

Drafts of ‘Overseas Employment and Expatriates (Amendment) Act, 2023’, ‘Plastic Industry Development Policy 2023’ and ‘Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (Amendment) Act 2023’ were also approved in the cabinet meeting.

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