Operation Clean Heart indemnity law illegal: HC
Victims can seek compensation from govt
The High Court today scrapped a law that legitimised all actions under a controversial criminal hunt named ‘Operation Clean Heart’ in 2003.
Declaring the Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003 illegal and unconstitutional, the court also ruled that any aggrieved person or victim of the operation can seek compensation from the government through the HC or any other court.
The BNP-Jamaat alliance government passed the act to give immunity from prosecution all those who carried out the countrywide operation taking place from October 16, 2002 till January 9, 2003.
Around 24,023 army and 339 navy personnel along with BDR, police and Ansar members joined the anti-crime drive.
As many as 44 people died in custody and hundreds sustained injuries following torture during the operation, triggering criticism for human rights violation.
The government, however, then put the toll at only 12 and said all the victims died of heart attack in hospitals after being handed over to police.
The joint force arrested 11,245 people, including some 2,482 listed criminals, and recovered 2,028 firearms and 29,754 rounds of ammunition.
In absence of a 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, drawing a barrage of flak from a cross-section of people, including eminent lawyers and rights activists.