Article 46 Power to provide indemnity
Power to provide indemnity
Indemnity laws can shield officials from accountability. Article 46 sets the limited circumstances in which Parliament may grant that protection.
Article 46 lets Parliament override Part III to protect people for acts linked to the liberation struggle, or to maintaining or restoring order in an area of Bangladesh. The power is tied to those purposes.
Parliament passes a law shielding officials from suits and prosecution for acts done during a security operation. It may also validate sentences or forfeitures imposed in that area. The Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003 was one such law.
Families of people harmed during the operation file a writ, arguing the law blocks justice and violates equality and the protection of law. The court examines the law against the Constitution. They ask the court to declare the indemnity law void.
In 2015 the High Court Division declared the Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003 void, allowing victims' families to file cases and seek compensation. Indemnity is not a blank shield against the Constitution. The ruling confirmed that such laws remain open to judicial scrutiny.
In plain English
How Article 46 works
Article 46 allows Parliament, despite the other provisions of Part III, to pass a law indemnifying any person, whether a public servant or anyone else, for acts done in connection with the national liberation struggle or the maintenance or restoration of order in any area of Bangladesh. Indemnity means legal protection from being sued or prosecuted. Parliament can also validate sentences, punishments, forfeitures or other acts done in such an area. The article was designed for the period after the 1971 Liberation War. It is a narrow power: an indemnity law must be connected to these purposes, and courts have scrutinised later indemnity laws against the wider constitutional guarantees.
In practice
Article 46 has been invoked to justify indemnity laws, but courts have not treated it as unlimited. In 2015 the High Court Division declared the Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003 void and unconstitutional. That Act had shielded those who carried out Operation Clean Heart between October 2002 and January 2003. The court held it violated equality before law and the protection of law, and said families of victims could file cases and seek compensation. The Indemnity Ordinance 1975, which protected those involved in the killing of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was repealed by Parliament in 1996.
The text
What Article 46 says
46. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this Part, Parliament may by law make provision for indemnifying any person in the service of the Republic or any other person in respect of any act done by him in connection with the national liberation struggle or the maintenance or restoration of order in any area in Bangladesh or validate any sentence passed, punishment inflicted, forfeiture ordered, or other act done in any such area.
English text as published on the official Laws of Bangladesh website. The Bangla text is authoritative (Article 153). Where a court has changed the position, the status note above explains it.
Landmark cases
How the courts have read it
High Court Division · 2015
ZI Khan Panna v Bangladesh (Joint Drive Indemnity Act case)
Declared the Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003, which shielded those who carried out Operation Clean Heart in 2002 and 2003, void and unconstitutional for violating equality before law and the protection of law.
Case summaries are short descriptions for orientation, not a substitute for the judgment.
Connected provisions
Related articles
Questions
Article 46: frequently asked questions
What is Article 46 of the Constitution of Bangladesh?
Article 46 allows Parliament, notwithstanding Part III, to make laws indemnifying public servants or others for acts connected with the national liberation struggle or the maintenance or restoration of order, and to validate sentences and other acts done in any such area.
Was the Joint Drive Indemnity Act declared unconstitutional?
Yes. In 2015 the High Court Division declared the Joint Drive Indemnity Act 2003 void and unconstitutional, holding that it violated equality and the protection of law. Families of victims of Operation Clean Heart could then file cases and seek compensation.
Sources
- Laws of Bangladesh: The Constitution, Article 46
- The Daily Star: Indemnity law illegal: HC (13 September 2015)
This guide explains the Constitution for general understanding. It is not legal advice. Constitutional reform proposals under discussion in 2026 are described as proposals until enacted.
Constitutional and writ practice
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