Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Thursday told the Parliament that the country’s law-and-order situation has improved noticeably, with law enforcement agencies arresting alleged offenders and bringing them under the law within a short time of crimes being committed.

“The improvement in the law-and-order situation is visible in Bangladesh. Since the present government took charge, whenever a crime has occurred, the perpetrators have been arrested and brought under the law within 24 to 48 hours or even less time,” he said.

The minister was responding to a supplementary question from National Citizen Party (NCP) lawmaker Md Abul Hasnat (Cumilla-4) in Parliament.

Addressing the lawmaker’s concerns, Salahuddin said police and other law enforcement agencies had acted swiftly in several cases, including those that attracted widespread public attention.

“From the Ramisa case to the four recent murders in Rangpur, the police and other law enforcement agencies have been able to arrest the suspects within the shortest possible time and bring them under the law,” he said.

Rejecting general allegations of failure by the Ministry of Home Affairs or law enforcement agencies, the minister said such claims should be supported by specific incidents and verifiable information.

“If you can point to any specific incident where the ministry or the law enforcement agencies have failed, we can give a detailed response to that particular incident,” he said.

Salahuddin also questioned the basis of crime statistics cited by the lawmaker, saying figures placed before Parliament should include their sources and methodology.

He recalled that the government had previously presented detailed crime statistics in Parliament, including through statements under Rule 300, covering various categories of criminal activities.

Responding to another supplementary question about firearms and the recovery of weapons looted from different locations, the minister said a committee comprising representatives of all relevant forces had been formed to recover the weapons.

He said law enforcement agencies were regularly recovering looted firearms and checking their serial numbers to identify them.

“We are continuously recovering weapons, including some of the looted firearms. We match their numbers and inform the media when such weapons are recovered,” he said.

Salahuddin expressed hope that all looted weapons, including those taken from prisons and other locations, would eventually be recovered.

On allegations of political or partisan considerations in police recruitment during the previous government, he said an investigation into the matter was nearing completion.

According to the minister, investigators had found irregularities in the recruitment of thousands of police constables and personnel of other ranks in several districts.

In some cases, applicants allegedly changed their addresses to become eligible for recruitment in particular districts by purchasing small plots of land and using those addresses as their permanent or village addresses, he said.

Salahuddin said several districts, including Faridpur, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Kishoreganj, had been identified as areas where such irregularities were allegedly committed.

“We have reached an advanced stage in the investigation. Once it is finalised, we will make the findings public before the nation,” he said.

Replying to another question from Joynal Abedin, MP, the home minister said the country’s law-and-order situation had shown a visible and expected improvement compared with the corresponding period last year.

“Even if I do not call it a revolutionary improvement, I would say there has been a visible and expected improvement,” he said.

Salahuddin presented comparative figures on the law-and-order situation for January-August 2025 and the same period of 2026.

According to the figures, the country recorded 2,607 murders from January to August 2025, compared with 2,332 during the same period this year.

Cases of violence against women and children also declined from 11,269 in January-August 2025 to 9,347 in the corresponding period of 2026.

Similarly, the number of rape cases fell from 4,666 during the first eight months of 2025 to 4,472 in the same period this year.

The minister also said incidents of mob violence had declined significantly, from 89 during January-August 2025 to 56 in the corresponding period of 2026.

“We have been able to bring it down to 56. Inshallah, we will bring it down to zero,” he said.

With Inputs from UNB