Bangladesh ordinance shields July protesters as police and minority killings go unpunished

Impunity fears over killings of Hindus

The interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh has promulgated an ordinance granting immunity to participants in the July–August protests, effectively preventing charges from being filed against them. While cases against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her aides continue in various courts, the move means killings of police personnel, Hindu minorities and political rivals linked to the unrest could go unpunished.

The interim government has enacted the July Uprising (Protection and Liability Determination) Ordinance, 2026, which provides legal protection to those involved in the July Uprising, Bangladeshi news agency United News of Bangladesh (UNB) reported. A gazette notification was issued by the Law Ministry on Sunday night, according to the report.

“The ordinance ensures withdrawal of all existing civil and criminal cases related to the uprising and bars the filing of any new cases against the participants,” UNB reported.

The ordinance could allow those responsible for killing police personnel, minorities including Hindus, and Awami League activists to escape accountability. The perpetrators are believed to include Islamist and radical elements, whom critics say the Yunus administration has treated leniently.

Legal experts have warned that such blanket indemnity finds little support under Bangladesh’s Constitution and could be challenged in court. However, the ordinance may withstand scrutiny given what observers describe as an increasingly pliant legal system.

The unrest began as a quota reform agitation but later escalated into a broader movement against the Sheikh Hasina government. Police initially used force to suppress demonstrators, but the protests were soon infiltrated by political actors and Islamist radicals.

As violence intensified, police stations were torched and officers lynched. The targeted killing of police personnel was widely cited as evidence that the movement had been hijacked.

Reports indicated that dozens of police officers were killed and many deserted outposts amid sustained attacks, with policing yet to fully recover even 18 months after the anti-Hasina protests. However, a list released by police headquarters in October 2024 stated that 44 police officers were killed during the July–August unrest, according to The Dhaka Tribune.

In January, a video clip of leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement — which played a role in toppling Hasina’s government — went viral. In the footage, they were seen boasting about killing a Hindu police officer, Santosh Chowdhury, in an arson attack on a police station, where officers were threatened to secure the release of a detained colleague.

Separately, BNP leader Saidur Rahman Bachchu claimed in January 2025 that party members were involved in the killing of 13 police personnel during an attack on Enayetpur police station in Sirajganj. The officers were beaten to death on August 4, 2024, and Bachchu said the assault “broke the back of the police force” and “accelerated” the July 2024 movement, according to The Daily Star.

Following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, 2024, Bangladesh descended into widespread lawlessness. Minority Hindus and political opponents, particularly Awami League members, were targeted. In the first three days alone, more than 200 attacks on minorities were reported, with at least five Hindus killed.

Critics argue the Yunus administration’s ordinance could allow such targeted killings of minorities, political rivals and police personnel to go unpunished.

“The ordinance allows allegations of killings during the uprising to be investigated by the Human Rights Commission,” UNB reported, adding that law enforcement agencies are barred from conducting such probes.

According to an analysis by The Daily Star, allegations of murder against any participant cannot be directly filed in court and must instead be submitted to the National Human Rights Commission, which will determine whether the act constituted “political resistance” or a “criminal misuse” of the unrest.

If the Commission concludes the act was part of “political resistance”, it may “recommend government compensation to affected families, but no legal case can be filed”.

Ghulam Muhammed Quader, chief of the Jatiyo Party and the main opposition leader during the Awami League government, demanded that “justice must also be served for the police officers who were killed during the movement”.

Writing in an opinion piece for India Today Digital, Quader said the number of police personnel killed during the July–August unrest could be far higher than the official figure of 44. He also called for an investigation into the use of 7.62mm rifles, which he said were not standard police weapons.

The Yunus administration, which came to power with the backing of protest leaders, is expected to frame rules to implement the ordinance. Critics argue this effectively allows a regime born out of violent agitation to shield its supporters from prosecution — even in cases of murder — while simultaneously pursuing Sheikh Hasina and her aides through the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), potentially letting perpetrators on the other side escape justice.