Bdbusinessdaily.com – Parliament in Dhaka is weighing legislation that would dismantle the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and replace it with a newly created Special Response Battalion (SRB) operating under the police. However, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has cautioned that, absent deep structural overhauls, the proposed unit risks replicating the very abuses that plagued its predecessor while wielding even wider discretionary authority.

In a statement released on 6 September, TIB laid out a detailed critique of the Special Response Battalion (SRB) Bill, 2026, which had been tabled in parliament the previous week. The organisation argued that the draft statute grants the prospective SRB sweeping yet loosely articulated powers — most notably the ability to carry out searches and effect arrests on the basis of mere suspicion, without first obtaining judicial warrants. For a country still grappling with public distrust of coercive state institutions, such latitude raises serious civil-liberties questions.…