The parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry on Wednesday said that it was disappointed at the killing innocent people by the Rapid Action Battalion and asked the authorities to be careful about use of firearms, especially in residential areas.
The committee at a meeting referred to the killing of a 15-year-old schoolboy in Narayanganj and said that it was disappointed at the battalion's activities. The committee observed that it could be wise if the battalion was more careful in such cases, sources attending the meeting said.
The schoolboy was killed and two others were wounded in 'accidental discharge' from weapons of Rapid Action Battalion personnel when a group said to be of drug peddlers jostled with them at Fatullah in Narayanganj on Tuesday night.
The sources said that the state minister for home affairs, Shamsul Hoque Tuku, at the meeting asked the battalion's director general, Mokhlesur Rahman, to be more careful to avoid such unwarranted incidents incident in future.
'We have observed that RAB should have been careful in such cases and have asked the force to be careful in future,' the committee chairman, Abdus Salam, told reporters after the meeting.
He also said that the incident was not acceptable as it did not take place during war or in the border and the place where it took place is a residential area.
'Criminals can escape arrest but it is important that no innocent people become victims,' said the committee chairman adding that it had asked RAB to be more careful about use of firearms in residential areas.
Shamsul told New Age that he had asked RAB to be more careful to avoid such unwarranted incidents in future.
'We have discussed law and order and asked RAB to be more careful so that its image does not get tarnished for a few incidents,' Shamsul said after the meeting.
Committee member Mujibul Haque, also a Jatiya Party lawmaker, told New Age that the committee had said that it was disappointed at the killing of the schoolboy and asked the battalion's director general to be careful in future.
The sources also said that the committee had been disappointed at the ministry's role in taking action against the director general of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Abu Nayeem Md Shahidullah.
The committee based on an inquiry report earlier recommended that the director general of the Fire Service and Civil Defence should be removed on charge of being involved in irregularities in connection with an international purchase.
The panel set up a six-member subcommittee, headed by Mirza Azam, to investigate the allegation levelled against the fire service and civil defence director general and the committee found him involved in irregularities of Tk 25 core in the purchase.
But the home minister, Sahara Khatun, at Wednesday's meeting defended the director general and questioned the inquiry report, the sources said.
'I do not think that such a big amount was misappropriated,' the committee chairman quoted the home minister as saying.
He also said that the report was prepared after proper investigation by the committee set up by the standing committee and it would be difficult for the committee to do its tasks if the report was termed incorrect.
source:New Age
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