Staff Reporter :
The High Court has declared the actions under the three-month ‘Operation Clean Heart’ in 2003, and the indemnity law that legitimised the actions ‘ultra vires’.
The High Court in its verdict said that the law providing indemnity to security force personnel violates the provisions of the Constitution, as the actions and the indemnity were contradictory to the constitutional provision of Articles 26, 27, 31, 32 and 35.
The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal gave the order on Sunday following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer ZI Khan Panna. He challenged the constitutionality of the ‘Joint Forces Operation Indemnity Act, 2003’. The court after a hearing on August 31 set September 13 for the verdict.
ZI Khan Panna filed his petition on January 14, 2012. On July 29, the HC bench of Justice Mirza Hussain Haider and Justice Kazi Mohammad Ejarul Haque Akondo issued a rule, asking the government to explain why the indemnity would not be declared ‘illegal’ and ‘conflicting’ with the country’s Constitution.
The bench also wanted to know why a Tk. 1 billion fund would not be raised to compensate those harmed during the operation.
Top bureaucrats of the Law, Home and Defense Ministries, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Inspector General of Police were asked to reply to the rule.
The petitioner’s argument was that Bangladesh signed the international convention forbidding torture in 1998. Section 14 of the law provides for raising a fund to compensate anyone harmed by government forces. But the indemnity law says, anyone harmed during the operation cannot seek justice; no case or petition can be filed against anyone involved in the operation.
The High Court also said that none is above the law and there is no wholesale or blanket immunity to law-enforcement agencies for violation of basic rights.
The court was of the opinion that any aggrieved person or victim of the ‘Operation Clean Heart’ can seek compensation from the government through the High Court or any other court by filing civil and criminal cases.
The BNP-Jamaat coalition government during its regime of 2001-2006 conducted the Army-led joint forces’ operation from October 16, 2002 to January 9, 2003 to ‘restore’ law and order situation. Around 24,023 army and 339 navy personnel along with BDR, police and Ansar members joined the anti-crime drive.
The then government also provided indemnity to those involved in the operation through passing the ‘Joint Forces Operation Indemnity Act, 2003’.
According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, 60 people were killed during the operation. The government, however, said that 12 of the detained people died of ‘heart attack’.
The joint forces reportedly arrested 11,245 people, including some 2,482 listed criminals, during the operation. They also recovered 2,028 firearms and 29,754 rounds of ammunition. The operation had triggered criticism for human rights violation.
In absence of the Parliament session, the government first promulgated an indemnity ordinance on January 9, 2003, hours before the end of the operation. The Ordinance was signed into a law on February 24 the same year, providing indemnity to the military officials who took part in the special operation.
