Dhaka, June 29 -- In a move aimed at protecting innocent citizens from what has become widely known as the "arrest and case trade", the interim government has authorised a key amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

Speaking at a briefing following a meeting of the Advisory Council on Sunday, Law Advisor Asif Nazrul said the government was "frankly embarrassed by certain ongoing practices".

"One is the filing of false or fabricated cases, and the other is case trading, where genuine incidents are inflated by naming numerous people just to extort money. So, after discussions with stakeholders, we've made an important change to the CrPC."

Under the new mechanism, a police commissioner, superintendent of police (SP), or an off...