Law in the making to cut punishment for the repentant

The government has planned to introduce a new law cutting punishment for those who would voluntarily confess to crimes, an adviser said Tuesday. The law will be named "Plea Bargain Act". Stressing the need for the law, law and information adviser Mainul Hosein told reporters in his office: "Many countries have such law. It's not clear to me why such law has not been made in Bangladesh yet." "When the law is made, any criminal can confess to crimes in court. It will reduce the penalty for the accused and time and money for running cases." On the gazette issued Monday for bail to the co-accused relatives of politicians in corruption cases, he said the government was thinking over giving bail to the co-accused for long.