Special Powers Act, 1974 is a law of Bangladesh. The law allows the government of Bangladesh to detain people indefinitely without charging them with anything.
History
The law was passed in 1974 to replace the repealed Security Act of Pakistan,1952, the Public Safety Ordinance of 1958 and the Bangladesh Scheduled Offences (Special Tribunal) Order of 1972.
The law targets smuggling, hoarding, and damaging actions.
The law allows the government to detain on preventive ground.
dominated Bangladesh Parliament passed the law on 9 February 1974.
The Awami League was criticised for passing the law. The law was opposed by
Ataur Rahman Khan
Ataur Rahman Khan ( bn, আতাউর রহমান খান; 1 July 1907 – 7 December 1991) was a Bangladeshi lawyer, politician and writer, and served as Chief Minister of East Pakistan from 1 September 1956 – March 1958, and as the P ...
and
Abdus Sattar ʻAbd al-Sattār (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الستّار) is an Arabic Muslim male given name, built on the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and ''al-Sattār''. The name means "servant of the Veiler (of sins)".
Because the letter s is a sun lett ...
.
Individuals can be up to six months without being charged and indefinitely if endorsed by the advisory board.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
maintained it when they came to power despite promising to remove it in their election manifesto.
Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since January 2 ...
called for its removal but after becoming Prime Minister called it useful.
In 1990, section 16(2) of the act was repealed through an amendment but police were filing cases under the section into 2018. Bangladesh High Court ordered police to stop using the section since it was removed through an act of parliament.
In December 2020, Bangladesh Police charged four under the act for vandalizing a statue of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
. In 2022, the government was asked to use the act to take action against food hoarding by traders.
Criticism
In 2022,
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জামায়াতে ইসলামী, Bānglādēsh Jāmāyatē Islāmī, Bangladesh Islamic Assembly), previously known as Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, or Jamaat for short, was ...
has called for the law to be repealed along with
Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 and
Digital Security Act, 2018 The Digital Security Act, 2018 is a digital security law in Bangladesh. This act was passed with the aim of preventing the spread of racism; sectarianism; extremism; terrorist propaganda; and hatred against religious or ethnic minorities through soc ...
. Bangladesh Nationalist Party has called for the removal of the law in 2022.
An editorial in The Daily Star described the law as "draconian" used by governments to harass their political opponents. Human Rights Watch has urged the government to repeal the Special Powers Act.
References
{{Reflist
Law of Bangladesh
Censorship in Bangladesh
Freedom of the press
1974 in law