RAB is now SRB

There is no longer any force called Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). With RAB dissolved, a new specialized unit called the "Special Response Battalion (SRB)" has begun operations under Bangladesh police.

After the gazette notification of the related law was published on Tuesday, the unit has been operating under the new name since Wednesday. RAB's website has also changed its name to SRB.

Although the name and legal framework have changed, the law incorporates provisions for transferring RAB's personnel, assets, funds, liabilities, contracts, and documents to SRB.

The SRB law says that with the law coming into effect, the relevant provisions included in the Armed Police Battalions Ordinance, 1979, as the legal basis for forming RAB, will be repealed. However, the 2005 regulations regarding RAB's court procedures and departmental proceedings will remain in force. At the same time, departmental punitive measures taken against any member under those regulations or any other law or rule, or court proceedings, will also remain in force.
SRB website's cover page. Collected.
That means, although RAB's old legal framework has ended, a large part of its institutional continuity gets into in SRB. The law states that RAB's relevant personnel, orders, powers, authority, existing facilities, funds, cash and money in banks, liabilities, contracts, movable and immovable property, account books, registers, records, and related documents will be immediately transferred and vested in SRB.

On September 10, a bill to dissolve RAB and form SRB under the police was passed in the National Parliament. The bill was passed amid objections from the opposition party. The new framework gained legal form through the issuance of the notification on Tuesday. From the next day, the unit began operations under the name SRB.

RAB's beginning and controversial end

In 2003, the legal basis for forming RAB was created through an amendment to the Armed Police Battalions Ordinance. The following year, on March 26, the force formally began its journey. Although RAB's role in various operations to control law and order was discussed, the force later came under criticism at home and abroad over allegations of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and human rights violations.

On December 10, 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on RAB and seven of its then working and former officials over allegations of human rights violations. In addition, the United Nations, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, and domestic and international human rights organizations recommended at various times that RAB be dissolved or reorganized.

After the July uprising, demands arose to dissolve RAB and restructure its framework. On December 10, 2024, the police administration reform committee formed by BNP also recommended RAB's dissolution.

As a continuation of this, SRB has been formed by reorganizing RAB's structure and scope of work. As a result, although the formal operations of the force known as RAB have ended, SRB has begun its journey under the police with a new name, retaining a large portion of its personnel and institutional assets.