AKIPRESS.COM - Bangladesh’s cabinet on Monday will consider capital punishment for traffic accident deaths, a law ministry official said, as thousands of students held protests for a ninth day over the deaths of two teenagers by a speeding bus in Dhaka, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands of angry school and colleges students have been demanding changes to Bangladesh’s transport laws, paralyzing the crowded capital of 18 million, after the two teenagers were killed when a privately operated bus ran over a group of students on July 29.

“In this amendment it has been proposed to award the highest level of punishment if it is killing by an accident,” said the law ministry official, who has been briefed on the matter but declined to be named ahead of a decision.

The current punishment is a maximum jail term of three years. Using the death penalty for road accidents is rare anywhere in the world. Bangladesh's transport authority listed punishments given in different countries that ranged from 14 years in the U.K. in extreme cases to two years in India.