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Bangladesh’s Indemnity Act shields murderers from courts. It’s impunity institutionalised

The Indemnity Act only protects the 'revolutionary'. Those killed by revolutionaries, such as police officers and Awami League activists, are left with no forum.

Bangladesh witnessed an intense political period in July-August 2024, with casualties reported from both sides. As per the fact-finding report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, published in February 2025, up to 1,400 people may have been killed between 1 July and 15 August 2024. The report also documented the post-uprising mob violence that targeted police officers and Awami League officials without providing a specific number of casualties.

The Bangladesh government’s estimate provides a narrower figure. The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs made public 836 fatalities from the uprising. Around this list, the government has organised a compensation framework and trials before the International Crimes Tribunal. But no names or numbers have been provided for the fatalities of the other side. And after the passing of the July Mass Uprising (Protection and Liability Determination) Act (henceforth, the “July Indemnity Act”) on 8 April 2026, no one can question those deaths in any court in Bangladesh.

Before the enactment, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order in October 2024 that anyone who participated in the July uprising would be absolved of any crime committed between 15 July and 8 August 2024. After 15 months, the president made this policy statutory by passing an ordinance under Article 93(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Finally, on 8 April 2026, the parliament converted the ordinance into an Act.

The deaths that cannot be probed

The Act defines a “revolutionary” as a person who participated in the July uprising, indemnifying them from ongoing and future civil and criminal prosecutions. It further makes a crime committed between July and August 2024 non-cognisable before any court of law. Nonetheless, if there is a murder allegation, the complaint goes to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which determines whether the killing constituted “political resistance”, defined as “the acts committed by July revolutionaries to restore democratic governance, toppling the fascist government”. If it is deemed to be such, no proceedings follow; the family might receive compensation; and such a decision is to be non-justiciable before any court. NHRC has also been vested with........

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