Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 | |
---|---|
President of Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad | |
Citation | Ordinance No. 50 of 1975 |
Territorial extent | Bangladesh |
Enacted by | Ordinance enacted by President Khondaker Mostaq Ahmed in 1975; Act enacted by President Ziaur Rahman in 1979. |
Enacted | 26 September 1975 |
Repeals | |
Indemnity (Repeal) Act, 1996 | |
Amended by | |
Indemnity Act, 1979 | |
Status: Repealed |
The Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 was a controversial law enacted by the martial law regime of Bangladesh on 26 September 1975. It provided legal immunity to all persons involved in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed with most of his family on 15 August 1975. Immunity meant the assassins were immune from any legal action. The surviving family members of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were unable to file a murder case against the assassins due to this law.
The ordinance was converted into an Act of Parliament by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on 9 July 1979 through the Indemnity Act, 1979. [1] When the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujib's surviving daughter Sheikh Hasina was elected to power in 1996, the law was repealed through the Indemnity (Repeal) Act, 1996. [2]
Published in an Extraordinary Bangladesh Gazette , the main purpose of the ordinance was described as being:
to restrict the taking of any legal or other proceedings in respect of certain acts or things done in connection with, or in preparation execution of any plan for, or steps necessitating, the historical change and the proclamation of Martial Law on the morning of the 15th August, 1975.
Whereas it is expedient to restrict the taking of any legal or other proceedings in respect of certain acts or things done in connection with or in preparation or execution of any plan for, or steps necessitating, the historical change and the proclamation of Martial Law on the morning of the 15th August, 1975. [3]
Due to the indemnity law, most of the assassins continued live freely in Bangladesh without any legal repercussions for their actions. Some were even appointed as diplomats of the Bangladeshi government. Two of the assassins, including Colonels Khandaker Abdur Rashid and Syed Faruque Rahman, [4] admitted to killing Sheikh Mujib in TV interviews. The self-confessed assassins regularly traveled abroad. By the time of the law's repeal in 1996, most of them were absconding abroad and became fugitives from the law. As of 2022, many of the assassins continue to be fugitives, including Colonel Rashid.[ citation needed ]
This indemnity law has been described as "the darkest law in the history of Bangladesh". [1] According to Mahfuz Anam, "In independent Bangladesh, the first unfortunate entry of military into politics was the dastardly murder of Bangabandhu along with his family (save two daughters) by a section of army officers and troops. This was followed by the killing of four national leaders in the jail, coming of power of Gen Ziaur Rahman, his shameful act of indemnifying Bangabandhu's killers and the subsequent tragedy of his killing by another section of the armed forces. None of these brought any credit to our army and contributed in making them more and more controversial and their intervention into politics hated by the people in general". [5]
Twenty-one years after the 1975 Ordinance was issued, the law was repealed through the Indemnity (Repeal) Act, 1996 which was passed by the parliament during the first term of Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister under the presidency of Shahabuddin Ahmed on 12 November 1996. Section 6(c) of the General Clauses Act 1897 states that if a new law repeals an old one, "any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred" [6] on certain people by the old law cannot be affected or repealed by the new repealing law. Since the people involved in Sheikh Mujib's assassination were granted indemnity (a privilege) by the 1975 Ordinance, the 1996 repealing Act stated that "at any time before the coming into force of this Act, if any, the provisions of Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897) shall not apply and the acts done, arrangements adopted, certificates or orders issued or rights or privileges acquired or liabilities created shall not apply." Thus, the 1996 repealing Act opened the doors for the conspirators of Sheikh Mujib's assassination to be tried and prosecuted under the Bangladeshi Law. The Indemnity (Repeal) Act, 1996 states: [7]
WHEREAS it is expedient and necessary to repeal The Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 (Ordinance Law of 1975); Therefore, it is hereby enacted as follows: —
Section 1. Short Title
1. This Act shall be known as The Indemnity (Repeal) Act, 1996. [8]
Section 2. Repeal of L of 1975
2(1). The Indemnity Ordinance, 1975 (L of 1975, printed as XLX of 1975), hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance, is hereby repealed.
2(2). Any acts done, any arrangements adopted, any certificates or orders issued or any rights or privileges acquired, or any liabilities created for the Government or any authority, under the said Ordinance at any time before the coming into force of this Act, if any, the provisions of Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897) shall not apply and the acts done, arrangements adopted, certificates or orders issued or rights or privileges acquired or liabilities created shall not apply. Upon the repeal of the said Ordinance by sub-section (1), it shall become ineffective, null and void as if the said Ordinance has not been promulgated and the said Ordinance did not and does not exist. [9]
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known by the honorific prefix Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist. As a politician, Mujib had held continuous positions either as Bangladesh's president or as its prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975. Mujib successfully led the Bangladeshi independence movement and restored Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, for which he is honoured as the "Father of the Nation" in Bangladesh. In 2011, the fifteenth constitutional amendment in Bangladesh referred to Sheikh Mujib as the Father of the Nation who declared independence; these references were enshrined in the fifth, sixth, and seventh schedules of the constitution. His Bengali nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are sometimes called Mujibism.
Ziaur Rahman was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 until his assassination. He was the founder of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and served as its chairman until his assassination. He previously served as the third chief of army staff from 1975 to 1978 with a minor break.
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. It is common in countries whose constitutions are based on the Westminster system.
Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the Minister of Commerce in the third Mujib Rahman ministry under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and assumed the presidency of Bangladesh after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975. He praised the assassins as "sons of the sun" and put cabinet ministers loyal to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in jail. He was himself deposed by another coup less than three months later on November 3, 1975.
In legal terms, an Act of Indemnity is a statute passed to protect people who have committed some illegal act which would otherwise cause them to be subjected to legal penalties. International treaties may contain articles that bind states to abide by similar terms which may involve the parties to the treaty passing domestic legislation to implement the indemnity laid out in the treaty.
Syed Faruque Rahman was a coup member involved in toppling the Sheikh Mujib regime in Bangladesh. He was convicted and hanged on 28 January 2010 along with co-conspirators Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and Mohammad Bazlul Huda in Dhaka Central Jail, Old Dhaka, for the murder of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and first president of Bangladesh. Syed Faruque Rahman and his close ally Khondaker Abdur Rashid were the chief organisers of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 15 August 1975. He was 2IC of the 1st Bengal Lancers Regiment of the Bangladesh Army who led a group of junior army officers in order to overthrew the regime of Sheikh Mujib and install Khondaker Mushtaque Ahmed as president of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh was assassinated, along with most of his family members during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his Dhanmondi 32 residence as part of a coup d'état. Minister of Commerce, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad, immediately took control of the government and proclaimed himself Head of the interim government from 15 August 1975 to 6 November 1975. The assassination marked the first direct military intervention in Bangladesh's civilian administration-centric politics. Lawrence Lifschultz characterized this incident as an outcome of cold war between the United States–influenced Pakistan and the Soviet Union–influenced India. Annually on the 15 August is a National Mourning Day, an official national holiday in Bangladesh.
The Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini was a Bangladeshi para-military force formed in 1972 by the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government.
The Bangladesh Collaborators Order, 1972 is a law enacted in 1972 by the Government of Bangladesh to establish a tribunal to prosecute local collaborators who helped or supported the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War and the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. An estimated 11,000 collaborators were arrested. An estimated 2,884 cases were filed at the tribunal until October 1973. Of those accused, 752 received sentencing. Many detainees were released after the 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état.
Begum Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, commonly known as Begum Mujib; and also known by her nickname Renu, was the wife of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder and the first President of Bangladesh. She is the mother of Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the Awami League from 2009-2024. She was killed along with her husband, brother-in-law, 3 sons and 2 daughters-in-law.
Khandaker Abdur Rashid is a Bangladesh Army officer and a accused of assassinating the first president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujib.
Shariful Haque Dalim (born 2 February 1946) is a former Bangladeshi army officer and ambassador of Bangladesh. He was also convicted for his part in the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding father, in 1975.
Sheikh Abu Naser (1928–1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and the only brother of the first President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the uncle of the former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Mohammad Bazlul Huda was a Bangladeshi Army officer who was convicted of the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of Bangladesh. On 28 January 2010, Bazlul was hanged along with Syed Faruque Rahman, Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Mohiuddin Ahmed, and A.K.M. Mohiuddin Ahmed in Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The 15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état was a military coup launched by mid ranking army officers in Bangladesh on 15 August 1975. The officers were part of a conspiracy to assassinate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh. Rahman and most of his family members were killed during the coup, with the exception of his two daughters Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana.
Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court first introduced the justification for qualified immunity for police officers from being sued for civil rights violations under Section 1983, by arguing that "[a] policeman's lot is not so unhappy that he must choose between being charged with dereliction of duty if he does not arrest when he had probable cause, and being mulcted in damages if he does."
The premiership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman began on January 12 of 1972 when he was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh after briefly serving as the President after returning from Pakistan's jail on January 10, 1972. He served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh until January 25, 1975, for three years, and later led the parliament to adopt an amendment of the constitution that made him the President of Bangladesh, effectively for life.