Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) is expressing grave concern and strong condemnation over the use of excessive force by police on protesting students who demanded that the medical admission test results be cancelled and a fresh test be held in the wake of question leak allegations.

According to media reports, students have been staging protests to press home their demands and Wednesday (September 30, 2015) was the 12th day of their protests. On that day around 11:00am, police obstructed protesters who were marching to Shahbagh from the TSC (Teacher-Student Centre) of Dhaka University.

Demonstrators claimed that police have hit many of them with rifle butts and ripped the clothes of female protesters. They also alleged that many of them were detained and taken to Shahbagh Police Station where police beat them up with rifle butts in the ‘service delivery room’.

We consider that every citizen has the democratic right to protest peacefully. This is a fair demand raised by students to initiate speedy and neutral investigation into the allegations of question leak. It is also rational to solve the problem through discussions with the protesters. In addition to the future of the students, the medical admission test also concerns the interests of the whole nation. But the strategy to suppress a peaceful protest by exerting excessive force is not consistent with a democratic system of governance.

We strongly urge the government to solve any problem by means of discussions and in democratic ways. We also demands that appropriate punitive measures be taken against police officials responsible for using excessive force on students.