comprising of the army, navy, air force, police force for law enforcement came into existence through amendment of the Armed Police Battalions Ordinance, 1979 in 2003.17 This amendment authorised RAB exclusively to take on special duties of ‘intelligence in respect of crime and criminal activities’ and investigation of any offence on the direction of the government. On October 25, 2004, the constitutionality of the Armed Police Battalions (Amendment) Act was challenged on the grounds that there were no rules or procedures to specify how RAB operates. The High Court subsequently ruled to the effect that RAB should function within the bounds of existing law.18 21. In order to implement the obligations under the Convention against Torture, the government of Bangladesh has enacted a legislation called ‘Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013. Section 3 prescribes that this law will prevail upon any other existing law. Section 4 deals with complaint procedure regarding torture. Section 12 provides that war situation, threat of war or internal political instability or emergency situation or superior order or order of government will not be used as an excuse for commission of an offence under this Act. Another important feature of this Act is that if a complainant suffers harm due to negligence or lack of care of the government official, the burden of proof of such harm will lie upon the accused government officials.19 Section 20 authorises the government to make Rules to implement the Act. But the definition of ‘torture’ in the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013 does not reflect all the elements of torture as defined in CAT. For example, ‘coercion’ which appears in the CAT is absent in the definition clause of the Act.20 On the other hand, the Act does not have the following exclusion clause that appears in Article 1 of CAT: “It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.” The Act provides for two alternative ways for making complaints against purported acts of torture. Sections 4 and 5 of this Act provide that a court may order the Superintendent of Police to register a complaint of torture after due medical examination of the complainant by a registered medical practitioner. Alternatively, a complaint can be made directly to a police officer not below the rank of the Superintendent of Police. The law also allows a third person to make a complaint against torture. However, the Act does not contain any provision that allow it to prevail upon the laws such as the Armed Police Battalions Ordinance 1979, (as amended in 2003), which contain provisions for immunity of law enforcing agencies. The Act does not explicitly extend protection to a witness. This law is yet to be applied in practical situations. Article 9 Prohibition of arbitrary arrest or detention 22. The Constitution of Bangladesh provides that no person will be deprived of personal liberty and article 33 provides some safeguards as regards arrest and detention. But in practice, Section 54 and 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 gives wide powers to the police to arrest a 17 See, the Armed Police Battalions (Amendment) Act, 2003, (Act no. XXVIII of 2003). “Government Asked to Reply Why RAB Not Be Run as per Law,” Daily Star, November 29, 2004, http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/11/29/d4112901055.htm. Please provide court case reference. 19 Section 19 of the Act. 20 See JAMAKON Report to the UN Committee against Torture, June, 2015, Dhaka, p. 23. 18 12