Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired the Cabinet meeting at the Cabinet Division conference room, Bangladesh Secretariat. Photo : PMO

DHAKA, Aug 17, 2026 (BSS)- The Cabinet today approved the draft of the Special Response Battalion Act, 2026, proposing to abolish the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and replace it with a new specialized unit named Special Response Battalion (SRB) under the police force.

The Cabinet gave the final approval to the draft law, subject to vetting by the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division. The approval was given at weekly cabinet meeting held in Cabinet Division conference room at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in the chair.

The draft law, placed by the Home Affairs Ministry, proposes forming a Multi-party Grievance Redress Committee to address complaints of citizens as well as internal grievances of SRB members.

Under the proposed law, the manpower, authority, facilities, funds, property, accounts, records and other relevant assets associated with RAB will be transferred to the SRB.

It further provides that, until new regulations are formulated, the existing rules of governing departmental proceedings related to RAB will remain in force with necessary adaptations.