1,059 ex-policemen accused of committing atrocities during the 2024 student-led movement that led to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, the Awami League leader, resigned and escaped to India on August 5 last year after anti-discrimination student protests against the quota system. Some 1,400 people lost their lives during the protests between July and August. surviving victims of the atrocities or the family members of the slain victims lodged hundreds of cases with police stations and court accusing the 1,059 officials of the main law enforcement agency. The highest number of 174 cases were filed against Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s now fugitive former additional commissioner Harunur Rashid, officials said. The UN rights office said the vast majority of the people killed in violence during the uprising were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces. It said the security forces tried to disperse disruptive \”yet peaceful assemblies with ‘disproportionate force’, in particular by shooting military rifles and shotguns loaded with lethal metal pellets\” while in some cases \”deliberately killed or maimed defenceless protesters by shooting them at point-blank range\”
