The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The government yesterday instructed the police administration to make sure that custodial death does not take place anymore.

The instruction was given from a meeting of the Advisors Committee on Law and Order chaired by Home Affairs Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) MA Matin at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Besides, the meeting decided to amend the Foreigners Act to effectively deal with foreigners traveling to Bangladesh

The meeting observed that the existing Foreigners Act does not contain details of dos and don'ts to be followed by the foreigners.

The meeting sources said that recently, two Canadian lawyers visited Bangladesh and got involved in legal matters and made remarks to the local press which the government feels tantamount to interference in the country's internal matters.

The meeting also decided to refrain from any kind of illumination on the Independence Day on March 26 to maintain uninterrupted supply of electricity across the country so that farmers could not have to face any difficulty to irrigate their agricultural lands in the current Boro season.

The meeting was attended by LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal, Law Adviser AF Hasan Ariff, Home Secretary Abdul Karim, Inspector General of Police Noor Mohammad, RAB Director General Hasan Mahmud Khondker and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Nayeem Ahmed.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Home Secretary Abdul Karim said that police were asked to ensure no death in custody.

"Specific instructions were given to the police department to ensure that custodial death does not take place anyway," he said.

Karim said the 50-year-old Foreigners Act would be amended to effectively deal with foreigners traveling to Bangladesh.

He said the police administration was asked to ensure safety and security of judges by providing personal security and deploying adequate police personnel at their residences.

The Home Secretary said the police administration was also asked to stop the nuisance of eve teasing by derailed youths in front of the educational institutions.

Karim said the meeting decided to issue licenses of small firearms to first-class government gazetted officers.

The caretaker government also decided to extend the time for depositing old firearms being used by security guards of banks and financial institutions from March 31 to June 30.

The Home Secretary further said that the meeting also discussed the reported extortion through phone calls and the police was asked to take note of it.