Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said 464 murder cases and 666 rape cases have been filed across the country since the current government took office.

“Some 604 people have been arrested in murder cases while 530 in rape cases. Of these, 11 persons in murder cases and 71 persons in rape cases have been released on bail,” the Home Minister said in response to a tabled question from NCP MP elected from Cumilla-4 Abul Hasnat (Hasnat Abdullah) in Parliament.

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In response to a question from Hasnat Abdullah, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said that the cases are being investigated very intensively to ensure strict punishment for all the accused responsible for serious crimes like murder and rape.

Replying to Jamaat MP Md. Mujibur Rahman, the Home Minister said, land grabbing, extortion and illegal activities are heinous crimes, which are very harmful to the society and the state.

There is no alternative to a sound law and order situation and a crime-free social system for the development of the country, he said.

“When the fascist Awami League government was in power for more than 15 years continuously, people became fed up with their loyal terrorist forces due to land grabbing, water and sand grabbing, extortion in various sectors, tender rigging and various illegal activities.”

As the current government has adopted a zero tolerance policy against all these crimes, the Minister said, those involved in land grabbing, extortion and illegal activities have been arrested and brought under the law in a short time, and all these crimes have been reduced to a great extent.

In response to the question of ruling party lawmaker elected from Madaripur-2 Md Jahander Ali Miha, the Home Minister said, currently there are 2.18 lakh posts are lying vacant in the Bangladesh Police.

Of these, 207,745 are police posts, 8,047 are non-police posts and 2,762 are non-police outsourcing posts, he said.

Besides, 14,500 new posts are being created and  500 of those are ASP posts, 4,000 are SI (unarmed) and 10,000 are constables, he said.

After the current government took office, the recruitment process has started against the vacancies of 2,703 constables and 2,000 ASIs will be directly recruited, he said.

In response to a question from Jamaat-e-Islami MP elected from Chittagong-15 Shahjahan Chowdhury, the Home Minister said that the investigation report of the Disappearance Commission is preserved in the National Human Rights Commission.

The minister said that all kinds of assistance including legal assistance are being provided to the families of the victims.