The Bangladesh Parliament has passed the Special Response Battalion (SRB) Bill 2026 officially abolishing the controversial Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and replacing it with a new specialised police unit. The legislation was passed by voice vote on Thursday alongside the Armed Police Battalions (APBn) Bill despite fierce objections from opposition lawmakers.
Under the new law RAB’s personnel, assets, facilities, funds and ongoing liabilities will be entirely transferred to the SRB. The unit will be headed by an officer holding at least the rank of Additional Inspector General of Police and will wield powers to investigate crimes, conduct searches and make arrests. It will also maintain its own detention and interrogation facilities.
Opposition leaders including Jamaat-e-Islami lawmakers strongly criticised the bill's hasty passage. They argued that transferring RAB’s existing manpower and infrastructure to the SRB makes the new force "old wine in a new bottle." Citing RAB's troubling history of alleged human rights violations, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the opposition argued the public demanded a complete dissolution not a mere rebranding. They also questioned the impartiality of the SRB’s proposed internal Grievance Redress Committee.
In response the Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmad dismissed these concerns and stating that dissolving RAB fulfills a major electoral pledge and that delaying the bill would only prolong RAB's existence. He clarified that the SRB is an entirely new entity and transferring state-owned assets simply prevents unnecessary public expenditure. Regarding accountability the minister assured parliament that criminal offenses by SRB members will be prosecuted under existing national laws while the internal committee will focus strictly on administrative complaints.
