Police’s illegal force against youth exercising democratic rights unacceptable: Ex-bureaucrats

The illegal and disproportionate use of force by security personnel against youth protesters exercising their democratic rights is unacceptable, a group of former bureaucrats said on Friday.

The Constitutional Conduct Group said that it was shocked by the “brutal police action against peaceful student protesters ventilating legitimate nationwide grievances” during their protest on Monday.

The agitation in the national capital began on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party began a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive exams.

On Monday, thousands joined the protest after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike for three weeks, to hospital. Their march to Parliament was met with a crackdown by the police. Dozens were injured as the police used lathis, fired tear gas shells and pellet guns against the demonstrators.

The police action turbocharged the agitation, which spread to other parts of the country.

In an open letter on Friday, the group of retired bureaucrats said that it was “deeply disturbed to note that the use of police repression and state violence is increasingly becoming the norm to counter any public protest or agitation”.

“This is especially reprehensible when the protesters are students as young...

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