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 as thirteen and fourteen years, many of them girls,” it added.

The groups said that a “meaningless dialogue” had been initiated under public pressure, with photo-op visits to the injured in hospitals. It added that the list of persons arrested has not been released.

“These young citizens deserve empathy, dialogue, protection and solutions, not pellets and lathis,” the group said.

It added that orders issued on Thursday to close offices and shops in central Delhi, besides the disruptions to public transport, “make it difficult for citizens to reach the protest site”.

“Facial Recognition Vans were deployed to live-scan peaceful protesters, constituting a violation of the citizen’s fundamental right to privacy, enunciated by the Supreme Court…which could be weaponised as tools of intimidation and suppression of fundamental rights,” the former civil servants said.

Former bureaucrats’ demands

The former bureaucrats demanded that an independent judicial inquiry be set up into the police’s actions on Monday, including the use of pellet guns and shock batons. They also demanded the immediate suspension of and departmental action against the officers responsible.

The detained students must be released unconditionally, they said, adding that persons injured must be provided medical care and compensation.

The retired civil servants said that the government must begin a structured dialogue with student representatives and withdraw all police cases against the protesters.

“The government must remember that its primary duty is to serve the people, especially the youth who represent India’s demographic dividend,” they added.

The 93 signatories to the letter include Punjab’s former Director General of Police Julio Ribeiro, Delhi’s former Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former Indian ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Former Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, Former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and former Indian Administrative Service officer and activist Harsh Mander.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava and Nachiket Deuskar.