Bill tabled to scrap RAB, create new police unit ‘SRB’
Bangladesh moved a step closer to dissolving the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Thursday, as the government tabled a bill in parliament to abolish the controversial elite force and replace it with a new specialized police unit called the Special Response Battalion (SRB).
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed introduced the “Special Response Battalion (SRB) Act, 2026” on the fourth day of the third session of the 13th national parliament, chaired by Acting Speaker Barrister Kaiser Kamal.
If enacted, the legislation would formally wind down RAB – long accused domestically and internationally of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and human rights abuses – and hand its counter-terrorism and organized-crime mandate to a newly constituted body operating directly under the police.
Following its introduction, the bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Home Affairs for detailed scrutiny, with instructions to review it and report back to parliament within two working days – a tight turnaround suggesting the government wants the legislation passed swiftly.
According to the text of the bill, the SRB is envisioned as a “modern, professional, skilled and accountable” specialized unit tasked with protecting public security, combating terrorism and organized crime, and supporting the broader police force in specialized operations.
Notably, the bill places explicit emphasis on transparency, oversight and effective accountability in how the new unit exercises its powers – language that appears aimed directly at addressing the accountability deficit that has defined RAB’s controversial legacy since its formation in 2004.
RAB, a joint task force drawing personnel from the police, army and other security agencies, has for two decades operated with a reputation split sharply between effectiveness against violent crime and militancy, and a long trail of allegations over its conduct.
The force and several of its former commanders have faced U.S. sanctions and repeated criticism from human rights organizations over alleged killings and disappearances linked to its operations, allegations that intensified scrutiny of the force in the years following the political changes that reshaped Bangladesh’s security establishment.
The move to replace RAB with a unit embedded within the regular police – rather than the current multi-agency task-force structure – marks a structural shift that officials appear to be framing as a break from the old model’s chain-of-command ambiguity, which critics have long argued made accountability difficult to enforce.
By placing the SRB under police command, the bill’s drafters may be seeking to align the new unit with existing disciplinary and oversight mechanisms rather than the semi-autonomous structure RAB has operated under.
The bill’s swift referral to committee, with a two-working-day deadline for review, signals the government’s intent to move the legislation through parliament without prolonged delay.
Whether the SRB, once operational, can shed the reputational baggage attached to its predecessor will likely depend on how rigorously the oversight and accountability provisions outlined in the bill are implemented in practice – a question rights groups and opposition lawmakers are expected to press as the bill moves through committee scrutiny and eventual floor debate.
